Because anyone saying hydroxychloroqine works, as far as we know right now, is either ignorant or willfully misinforming the public.
Hereâs the latest from UpToDate, one of the more important information sources for medical care providers. Itâs like Wikipedia in that itâs updated constantly. (Hence its name). The italics are mine, so you can skip the other polysyllabic words if they give you trouble.
âWe generally do not use other agents off-label for treatment of COVID-19. In particular, we suggest not routinely using hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine outside the context of a clinical trial given the lack of clear benefit and potential for toxicity (Grade 2C). We also suggest not using lopinavir-ritonavir for COVID-19 therapy outside of a clinical trial (Grade 2B). (See 'Hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine' above and 'Others' above.)â
What is Grade 2? â2. Weak recommendation: Benefits and risks closely balanced and/or uncertainâ What is Grade C? âC. Low-quality evidence: Evidence from observational studies, unsystematic clinical observations, or from randomized trials with serious flawsâ
and
âWhile hydroxychloroquine is being studied as a prophylactic agent, one randomized trial found that it was not effective for prevention. We recommend that neither this medication nor any other be used for prophylaxis outside of clinical trials.â
So the issue here is not that politics or Trump is preventing us from using a helpful medicine - instead, itâs that
TRUMP AND HIS POLITICS ARE PROMOTING TREATMENTS THAT ARENâT USEFUL.
People literally died because the media was more interested in demonizing Donald Trump than getting the facts right.
Also -Hydroxychloroquine (aka Plaquenil) sulfate (the full generic name) is no longer covered by patent protection. There's at least four generic makers supplying it. Cost per tab is ultra-low.
Those who claimed Trump's motivation in promoting the drug was that he directly profited from its sale - and those people ought to apologize. Of course all we'll ever hear is crickets.
so the mortality rate is what? 0.05% ? And when they say" he died of covid "does that mean only covid? or covid with heart disease, diabetes, old age, COPD, etc. What a drag.
His summary: The truth is simple, and horrifying. We are about to have dozens of NYCs around the country. The next 8 weeks are going to brutal, no matter what we do. ICUs overflowing, ventilators rationed, hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Yes.
It gets worse. The CDC itself and some states are combining positive tests and those who test positive for the anti body when tested. The positive antibody numbers go into the new active numbers. Bad for policy making decisions at the very least as illustrated in SteelyD's article.
There is no solid data on anything. Do not ever let your guard down, cuz this will not be over until it is.
Combining these two signals makes the data difficult to interpret and could be misleading to the public, because the combined number does not reflect the rate of new infection (and the number of infectious people circulating) in their region, William Hanage, an epidemiology professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told The Atlantic. "Combining a test that is designed to detect current infection with a test that detects infection at some point in the past is just really confusing and muddies the water," he said.
In addition, people are most likely to receive a diagnostic test if they're suspected to be infected, meaning they're showing symptoms of the disease or have been in contact with an infected person. Antibody tests can be given to anyone, and because relatively few people are thought to have been infected with COVID-19 across the U.S., many antibody tests may come back negative. If combined with diagnostic test results, antibody test results could artificially lower the percentage of positive tests out of the total.
The percentage of positive diagnostic tests provides a sense of how much virus is currently circulating in a community, and if skewed, that warped statistic could wrongly influence public health policy decisions.
His summary: The truth is simple, and horrifying. We are about to have dozens of NYCs around the country. The next 8 weeks are going to brutal, no matter what we do. ICUs overflowing, ventilators rationed, hundreds of thousands of deaths.
His summary: The truth is simple, and horrifying. We are about to have dozens of NYCs around the country. The next 8 weeks are going to brutal, no matter what we do. ICUs overflowing, ventilators rationed, hundreds of thousands of deaths.
On July 1, the European Union reopened its borders to 15 non-EU countries that have brought COVID-19 under control. The United States was not among them. This population-adjusted graph of new infections shows why:
Public Citizen immediately declared the pricing âoffensive.â âItâs outrageous,â said Zain Rizvi, a drug-pricing expert who works for the consumer advocacy group. âEven during a pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry canât help but price gouge.â Rizvi said that the price may affect who gets the therapy â and hit the uninsured hardest. âSome patients may choose to skip their care,â he said. âOthers may be on the hook for thousands of dollars.â Hospitals may also be hesitant to use the drug because of its price.
I know it sounds like a lot of money (because it is), but I'd bet it's about the same cost as a couple hours (or less) in the ER, or fifteen minutes in ICU, or a few minutes on a ventilator.
It seems like hospitals would jump at the chance to reduce expenses by reducing a patient's time in treatment. c.
Yes, pharmaceuticals are the cheapest form of healthcare. drug adherence is the best way to keep most people out of the ER/hospital. Contrary to the headline, aggregate drug price inflation has only been about 2-3%, due in large part that over 80% of scripts are now generics, and reimbursement rate for drugs has been under pressure. The issue is more to do with the convoluted supply chain, and how rebates, discounts flow from manufacturer to insured.
