Dear Health,
Thanks for your reply! I have been interested in your take on this treatment for months.
To be very clear, I have no opinion on how effective it may be.
I got from you two points.
It can save lives, but is not known how many.
And, it has to be taken within a few days.
My analysis is, that is enough of a perspective to make it a closed topic. (In the real medical world.) Being that it has not shown the promise of being a ‘miracle drug’, there should not be a special emphasis on trying to see just how much this treatment can do. Let it prove it’s worth as it get’s used more. Special emphasis should be reserved for treatments that have promise, but have not yet been researched. (There are only so many patients at a given time in a given place to study. Why give them one treatment that does not hold much promise for them?)
Even if it would turn out better than any drug available, (I think that would be a forty percent success rate. maybe higher.) it is still not enough to soften the overall impact of the pandemic. Except for the most optimistic guesses at herd immunity. Additionally, a treatment that is intended within four days will not help much as most patients are not being tracked from the very beginning. Furthermore, all treatments do not help toward slowing the spread. Which is the crucial factor in reopening the economy.
As it stands now, if a doctor feels comfortable prescribing this treatment, he can do so. Dr. Fauci is not saying that it should not be prescribed. It would require the presiding physician’s intuition as to whether it should be given, and how it should be given. There is no way to regulate intuition. And for sure there is no reason to give it randomly (Such as after four days.) instead of medications that have fared well in more controlled studies.
In conclusion, perhaps you could have saved thousands with HCQ + zinc. But most doctors do not seem to be as confident. And, you seem to be indicating that one has to know how to administer it. [Within four days. With zinc. Any specifics on the dosing?] There is no reason to believe that this would change the overall crisis.