President Donald Trump has absolutely no medical or public health expertise whatsoever, although throughout the Coronavirus crisis, he has routinely pretended as though he has some kind of basis on which to make authoritative proclamations about the supposed best way forward. He’s repeatedly touted the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a supposedly useful treatment against the Coronavirus, but there has never been any kind of systematic evidence of the drug’s actual effectiveness. Now, there’s a new study available outlining how among tens of thousands of Coronavirus patients, the drug was actually linked to a documented higher risk of death. This week, Hillary Clinton called out Trump for recklessly endangering lives with his glib promotion of the drug.
Antimalarial drug touted by Pres Trump is linked to increased risk of death in coronavirus patients, according to one study. An analysis of 96K patients shows those treated with hydroxychloroquine were also more likely to suffer irregular heart rhythms. https://t.co/XfW8r7KIe6
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 22, 2020
She posted on Twitter:
‘A study of 96,000 coronavirus patients found that those who received a drug Trump has promoted as a treatment had a “significantly higher risk of death compared with those who did not.” The president needs to stop playing a doctor on TV.’
A study of 96,000 coronavirus patients found that those who received a drug Trump has promoted as a treatment had a “significantly higher risk of death compared with those who did not.”
The president needs to stop playing a doctor on TV.https://t.co/0bimpU2WXG
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 22, 2020
Trump has actually been taking the drug himself, too. He started taking the drug, supposedly, after one of his personal valets tested positive for the Coronavirus, although again, there has never been any kind of systematic evidence that the drug is actually useful for preventing the virus. In fact, one recent story circulated of a woman who contracted the Coronavirus even after she took the drug in question for 19 years as a treatment for lupus, which it’s actually approved for and useful against.
Woman with lupus took hydroxychloroquine for 19 years, still got COVID-19 https://t.co/w9r0KNia81
— WISN 12 NEWS (@WISN12News) May 20, 2020
The latest study covering tens of thousands of patients is not the first suggesting that hydroxychloroquine is linked to a higher risk of death among Coronavirus patients. One study outlining results from the VA hospital system has already revealed that among veterans, the drug was also linked to a higher risk of death among Coronavirus cases. None of these developments have seemed to faze the president away from his commitment to promoting his attempts at some kind of magic fix.
⚠️BREAKING: huge Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine study of 96,000 patients at 671 hospitals found:
📌Increased risk of DEATH by 33-45%
📌Increased risk of ventricular arrhythmia by 2.3x to 5x.
📌Not a trial but a large longitudinal study.
🧵#COVID19 https://t.co/SAD20nESOs pic.twitter.com/GPAulxCwNw— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) May 22, 2020
Check out Twitter’s response to Hillary below:
