A Drug Could Speed Up Recovery; The Economy Declines
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2020
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Wednesday morning's first quarter gross domestic product report shows that the economy shrank last quarter at a rate not seen since the fall of 2008.
New findings suggest a link between COVID-19 and life-threatening blood clots that cause strokes in all age groups.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts talks about how his state is trying to lead the charge in contact tracing, and how leadership during a pandemic is uniquely challenging.
Plus, in New Orleans, Brass-a-Holics bandleader Winston "Trombone" Turner wanted to honor the deceased of COVID-19 like they would have been ordinarily — with music. So, he picked up his horn and called a few friends to record a performance of "I'll Fly Away," a celebratory song played at almost every traditional New Orleans funeral.
Find and support your local public radio station
Sign up for 'The New Normal' newsletter
This episode was recorded and published as part of this podcast's former 'Coronavirus Daily' format.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | News about the economy today was not good. |
| 0:05.0 | Turns out last quarter, the economy shrank at a rate we haven't seen since the fall of 2008. |
| 0:12.0 | And last quarter includes just two weeks of widespread social distancing. |
| 0:17.0 | The next quarter is expected to be worse. |
| 0:20.0 | But there is promising news about a new drug that could treat COVID-19. |
| 0:25.0 | Some of the numbers may change a little, but the conclusion will not change. |
| 0:30.0 | Coming up how Massachusetts is getting ready to do massive contact tracing |
| 0:34.0 | and the emerging link between COVID-19 and blood clots. |
| 0:38.0 | That's leading to strokes among young people. |
| 0:41.0 | This is coronavirus daily from NPR. I'm Kelly McEvers. It's Wednesday, April 29th. |
| 0:51.0 | Okay, finally, some good news. |
| 0:53.0 | It's preliminary and it needs more study. |
| 0:56.0 | But results from a trial involving more than 1,000 hospital patients |
| 1:00.0 | have showed that the drug Ramdesivir could speed up recovery from COVID-19 |
| 1:05.0 | and possibly could also reduce deaths. |
| 1:09.0 | Dr. Anthony Fauci described the results of the trial at a White House event on Wednesday. |
| 1:14.0 | The data shows that Ramdesivir has a clear cut significant positive effect |
| 1:20.0 | in diminishing the time to recovery. |
| 1:24.0 | It was 11 days compared to 15 days. |
| 1:28.0 | The difference between 11 and 15 days might not sound like a lot, |
| 1:33.0 | but Fauci said when it comes from a well-conducted trial, it's meaningful. |
| 1:37.0 | Although a 31% improvement doesn't seem like a knockout 100%, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.