CORONA

Day 2

A/N:
Note: Rundyuvesval and Remdesivir are antiviral drugs. They are fictional and do not exist.

The documents written in this chapter are important, so if you're a lazy piece of shit, too bad. Read it. Turn the screen to dark and enjoy.
Because of Glitchpad, the italicized words are in bold for some reason, so ignore that. Any words that are in '' is meant to be italicized.

Day 2

"You won't believe this."

"What? What?" I say impatiently.

He silently rolls two pages and throws it to me. It falls short and I quickly crawl over to pick it up before resuming my position.

Double-Blind Study of Rundyuvesval in Patients with COVID-19, or Corona Virus

I impatiently scan past the first few paragraphs of introduction until my eyes land on 'SADE Labs.' I skim over the words quickly.

This mutated version of COVID-19 (COVID-19-M36) is treatable on animals, giving SADE Labs the ability to start testing on humans.

However, due to physiological differences, the same treatment for animals does not have the same effects on humans.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was carried out to compare a four-week period of treatment with rundyuvesval daily and placebo in the treatment of patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019, also known as COVID-19 (the treatment was administered after the injection of a mild and benign strain of the virus). A total of 28 patients (college attendees) entered the trial, of whom 20 patients (6 active, 14 placebo) have agreed to survive through Phase III and are still in clinical testing. Only three casualties occurred before Phase III due to infection. Whilst several of the efficacy indices showed little change in either group during the trial, scientists are hoping to extend the time limit to allow for more evasive testing...

"Oh no," I breathe. I skim further down.

Traditionally, viruses have been treated through antiviral medicine following a medical diagnosis. Concerning COVID-19, drug-resistant microbes have formed to prevent any sort of medicine to destroy the virus. Over the past three years, there has been emphasis on using lifestyle changes and preventative measures to eradicate this instead...

So there was still no progress. If the virus was made to resist any kind of medicine, then when will a cure ever be found? Why on Earth would scientists inject us with the mutated version, even a small, benign strain that wouldn't harm us, when they know it can't be treated?

Jared was wrong to be hopeful. The thirty people with the virus will surely die, and the infected volunteers might as well. The injection was too little to be lethal, but if it's a constantly changing virus, who's to say the small amount won't soon be able to weaponize itself in the patients' bodies? And perhaps it did when a patient killed another, something that the scientists didn't expect to happen. It's probably why they ran, they didn't know how to react, didn't see the signs in time.

Based on the brutal murder that occurred yesterday, it looks like one of the volunteers showed the same symptoms as those with the full virus coursing through their veins.

I scan the page until I find 'symptoms' and quickly read.

There is a trend in symptoms within the active group. In 2019, the symptoms for the corona virus were: fever, headache, dry cough, sore throats, drowsiness, aches and pains, and nasal congestions. The virus could easily spread to another host within six feet. It took 5-14 days for symptoms to appear.