when people took it within just a few days. now, what you'll also see is a tenfold decrease in viral load at day five. that last part is very important, not just for the patient but for others around them. if you've got less virus in your nose, which is what viral load means, you are less likely to spread it to other people. now, let's sort of take this clinical trial apart a bit. they gave half of the folks a placebo, a pill that does nothing, and half the folks the antiviral. those with the pill, no one died. those revealing the placebo, 44 were hospitalized and 9 died. that is dramatic, especially that death number. that is very dramatic. it is interesting, both pfizer and merck say their antivirals won't be affected by omicron because they don't work in the same way as the vaccine does. hopefully they're right about