Opinion : Letter to the Editor: And so it goes

Dear Editor:

Democrats and my critics will have a hard time backtracking if this works before other therapies are available. My prayer is that recoveries increase and fatalities decrease!! And that researchers find plasma or other therapies 100% successful. Time is of the essence we can't wait for traditional double-blind trials.

The naysayers: If a democrat advocated this therapy it would be heralded as the "game-changer", but not so because the hated Trump advocated Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin. It appears much to the chagrin of Democrats, leftists and Communists particularly Lindsey, Braden, Schwartz, and Gould that this therapy works. A full transcript of the Ingraham interview: here

Professor Didier Raoult of Maarseille hospital a biologist and professor of microbiology, according to Dr. Mehmet Oz treated 1061 Covid-19 patients with Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin of that number 973 did not shed virus after 10 days or less of treatment, none needed a ventilator. I am unable to find data as to the outcome of other 88. I have seen reports that the normal dosages range from 400-600mg. daily. I may be mistaken, but the French Doctor may have used double these dosages.

"As many as 4,000 people in New York are currently being treated with hydroxychloroquine, the New York Post reports:

A state Health Department official said the [Department of Health] has shipped doses of hydroxychloroquine to 56 hospitals across New York, distributing enough "to treat 4,000 patients to date." Patients have received doses as part of four- or 10-day regimens, officials said. The University of Albany's School of Public Health is observing the drug's impact on the patients, and its preliminary study could come back in weeks instead of the usual months, officials said

"There's a dispute as to whether it treats symptoms or cures the disease. But it works. And we don't have the luxury right now for a perfect solution," President Trump's personal lawyer(Rudy Giuliani) said.

Fox News host Sean Hannity also questioned why New York doctors can't prescribe the drugs outside of a hospital setting.

"I live on Long Island and many doctors are telling me that they want to prescribe this medication to their patients who test positive for COVID-19 - the disease caused by the coronavirus - but do NOT need the patient to come to a hospital," Hannity said in a Saturday op-ed. "However, Cuomo's executive order forbids pharmacies from filling the prescriptions."

Cuomo, Hannity said, "is creating a much bigger crisis in his state's hospital system by denying New Yorkers THE CHOICE (in consultation with their doctors) to take this potentially life-saving medication."

A few days ago, NBC News reporter Peter Alexander accused President Trump of offering Americans a "false sense of hope" in the midst of the Wuhan virus pandemic. Trump noted, rightfully, that Alexander was a terrible reporter who seemed more interested in promoting panic rather than balanced optimism over potential treatments that could be effective against COVID-19. In Alexander's defense, there are a lot of terrible reporters.

A drug known as (hydroxy)chloroquine, for example, has been used for decades to treat malaria and anecdotal evidence suggests the drug may also be effective at treating COVID-19. The drug is approved by the FDA to treat other ailments and sufferers of the coronavirus could begin receiving the drug, the reasoning goes, in case the preliminary data is correct and the drug is an effective treatment for COVID-19.

Of course, when Trump touts the potential treatment the media accuses him of giving Americans a "false sense of hope." But when Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York has acquired 70,000 units of hydroxychloroquine and 750,000 units of chloroquine, the media hail the governor for his leadership.

Here's CNN's Brian Stelter praising Gov. Cuomo for "providing hope but not false hope" when the governor is just repeating the same thing the president said days ago.

"[W]e are all optimistic that it could work," Gov. Cuomo said about the potential treatment on Sunday. "I have spoken with a number of health officials and there is a good basis to believe that they could work."

There is certainly conclusive evidence to show the media are politicizing this pandemic to unfairly criticize President Trump.

"The president ordered the FDA to move," Gov. Cuomo admitted, "and the FDA moved."

The governor said drug trials will begin in New York on Tuesday.

Regards,

John Stiegelmeyer