Problem:
In the early, desperate months of the pandemic, some medical centers published the results of studies that involved providing a potentially effective treatment to a series of patients. There was no randomization and no control group involved. Often different facilities obtained different results and subsequent randomized controlled trials failed to find the treatment to be effective.
Was it right to publish the results of such observational studies?
How was the general public affected by popular media coverage of these studies?
Did the coverage create confusion or mistrust?
100 words