How to Write About Remdesivir

There is a drug that has shown statistical efficacy when fighting the virus. It sends people home from the hospital earlier and shows some survival benefit too. It could potentially save lives, and, in the process, help people feel better about going back to work.

But here’s the thing. You have to throw cold water all over your audience anytime you have good news to share. It’s the unwritten rule of the Internet. Don’t want to sound too upbeat and be deemed a wide-eyed fool riding into town on the back of a turnip truck.

So as you prep your skeptical piece about Remdesivir, please choose from the below buffet of disclaimers:

• It’s not a silver bullet
• It’s not a panacea
• It’s not a cure
• It’s not a breakthrough
• It’s not a slam dunk
• It’s not a grand slam
• It’s not a home run
• It’s not a touchdown
• It’s not a hole in one
• It’s not saving the princess
• It’s not beating the final boss
• It’s not a certainty
• It’s not guaranteed to work
• It’s not promised to be available
• It’s not enough
• It’s not the answer to all our prayers
• It’s not the solution to all our problems
• It’s not going to save everyone
• It’s not going to stop the fall resurgence
• It’s not a replacement for social distancing
• It’s not going to fix your marriage
• It’s not a miracle drug
• It’s not magical
• It’s not going to repair the societal damage
• It’s not going to make your dad love you
• It’s not going change how bald you are
• It’s not going to save the economy
• It’s not going to shut down the wet markets
• It’s not a substitute for washing your hands
• It’s not an excuse for touching your face
• It’s not worth throwing a parade over
• It’s not bringing back the school year
• It’s not going to restore municipal balance sheets
• It’s not going revive the local diner
• It’s not what plants crave
• It’s not a bird in the hand
• It’s not a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow
• It’s not a walk in the park
• It’s not a month of sundays
• It’s not a white knight
• It’s not a night in white satin
• It’s not a stairway to heaven
• It’s not a glass slipper
• It’s not the garden of eden
• It’s not a holy grail
• It’s not a deus ex machina
• It’s not foolproof
• It’s not waterproof beyond 200 meters
• It’s not a given
• It’s not automatic
• It’s not the end
• It’s not the beginning of the end
• It’s not the end of the beginning
• It’s not the middle of the beginning of the end
• It’s not over
• It’s not time to relax
• It’s not time to take our foot off the accelerator
• It’s not quittin’ time
• It’s not miller time
• It’s not an all-clear signal
• It’s not a happy ending
• It’s not a fairy tale ending
• It’s not a hollywood ending
• It’s not a reason to celebrate
• It’s not a reason to relax
• It’s not a golden ticket
• It’s not two tickets to paradise
• It’s not paradise city
• It’s not a savior
• It’s not a saving grace
• It’s not the coup de grâce
• it’s not a single-edged sword
• It’s not checkmate
• It’s not a revolution
• It’s not a dream come true

That should be enough for your first few articles on it. Check back for some more of these if you run through them all.

Image by Ben Mills – Own work, Public Domain, Link