CUTTING THROUGH THE FOG AROUND A CURE FOR COVID-19.

Many news media reports have smartly highlighted the initial, flawed, results of the Raoult study, including a Los Angeles Times column and a New Yorker piece focused on the dangerous potential side effects of HCQ. A lot of reporters who, understandably, hate Trump and distrust everything he says, have clearly decided the HCQ stuff is dangerous bunk and moved on to other stories. But just because Trump likes it doesn’t make it all bad.

The French doctor has continued to update his results, and they are now based on a thousand patients. Other studies are also underway, and scientists including Fauci have cautioned that the Raoult study is not being done according to the most rigorous standards. But if you want hope along with your clickbait stories of people dying from fish tank cleaner, you could report it: as of Sunday March 29, the French study reported that of 1,003 patients treated with HCQ/AZ, only one had died.

HCQ is not the only promising treatment. Doctors from Mount Sinai in New York have begun siphoning blood from those who have recovered from COVID-19 in order to harvest their antibodies. These will be injected into hospitalized patients. Doctors should know by mid-April if it is helpful.

Stay tuned.