Hydroxychloroquine has become a political drug...

Now wait a second, he's not the only Democrat who is claiming the benefits of using hydroxycholoroquine. That medicine is one used in the treatment of malaria and is being promoted as a treatment to the coronavirus. The bad news is that promoting it's use is proving political in a time where we need treatments to this virus which is burning through the world's population.

A Democratic New York City Councilman says hydroxychloroquine saved his life after a near-fatal run-in with COVID-19 in March.

Paul Vallone, who represents northeast Queens, took the drug along with a standard flu Z-pack, and came back from the brink almost immediately.

“I couldn’t breathe, very weak, couldn’t get out of bed. My doctor prescribed it. My pharmacy had it. Took it that day and within two to three days I was able to breathe,” Vallone told The Post. “Within a week I was back on my feet.”

Though Vallone went public with his coronavirus diagnosis in an April 1 Twitter post, saying he was experiencing “mild symptoms,” his actual condition was considerably more severe. Vallone’s initial prognosis was particularly grim, as he also suffers from sarcoidosis, an auto-immune disease that attacks his lungs.

“We were in panic mode when I went down because I didn’t have a lot of immune response,” he said. “I needed something to stay alive.”

Hydroxychloroquine “worked for me.”

Vallone’s brother Peter, a former City Councilman and a current civil court judge in Queens, also became a convert after his brother’s illness.

“I guess all those doctors who are prescribing it are right. This drug is already on the market and the patent is up so it’s cheap. A new drug won’t be. So big money does not want this drug to be used. Always follow the money,” Peter Vallone said in a May 12 Facebook post, sharing a link to an NYU study touting the drug.

I guess you want to know who was the other Democrat? And it was very early into this pandemic during the time of panic buying and lockdowns. Back when we didn't know as much about this virus:

State Rep. Karen Whitsett, who learned Monday she has tested positive for COVID-19, said she started taking hydroxychloroquine on March 31, prescribed by her doctor, after both she and her husband sought treatment for a range of symptoms on March 18.

"It was less than two hours" before she started to feel relief, said Whitsett, who had experienced shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, and what felt like a sinus infection. She is still experiencing headaches, she said.

Rep. Karen Whitsett (Photo: Michigan House of Representatives)

Whitsett said she was familiar with "the wonders" of hydroxychloroquine from an earlier bout with Lyme disease, but does not believe she would have thought to ask for it, or her doctor would have prescribed it, had Trump not been touting it as a possible treatment for COVID-19.

Trump, at his daily coronavirus briefings, has repeatedly touted the drug in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin, despite criticism from health professionals that it is unproven and potentially dangerous. There have also been complaints that Trump's remarks have resulted in a shortage of the drug for those people who normally use it for its recommended purposes.

Why is talking about this drug as a treatment for coronavirus political? Because Trump has been talking about it, but I thought this was a dangerous illness. We need treatments to get back to some semblance of normal right? And yet, someone out there whether a doctor or nurse or politician wants to discount the President's assertion out of hand and anyone else who believes this could be an effective treatment without any study or consideration. I don't understand....

I also get the feeling any news from this NYC councilman will get suppressed. This is not something that's going to get spread because it goes against the grain of anyone who wants to discount President Trump.

It sort of happened to Michigan State Representative Whitsett.  She got censured by her caucus when she talked about this drug.

h/t Newsalert

Doctors question the lockdowns #Pandemic

[VIDEO] From the YouTube channel Blue Collar Logic. We see two California doctors who own a chain of urgent care clinics talking about the data they see from the coronavirus pandemic. They're ready to lift the various restrictions (lockdowns, stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, etc.) around the nation that is designed to help slow the spread of this virus. The above video is over an hour duration.

You'll hear this often especially in the beginning with these restrictions a large number of infections with very small amount of deaths. Also when it comes to quarantines we don't normally quarantine the healthy, we're supposed to quarantine the sick.

I think I heard this Sweden is going about their business they may have some restrictions (such as social distancing) but not as much in most of the U.S. No lockdowns there and it seems the Swedes are banking on "herd immunity". Then we look at their neighbor next door in Norway that has enacted restrictions and yet both nations have many cases but very little death. These two urgent care physicians have determined based on the data they've collected, why do we have these restrictions?

What's the deal with these restrictions here in America?

Biophysicist says corona is slowing down in China

Nobel laureate and Stanford Professor Michael Levitt has concluded that at least in China the crisis will be over there. Though I wanted to highlight this because I missed this. It's important for the crisis as it's emerged in this nation:

The explosion of cases in Italy is worrying, Levitt said, but he estimates it is a result of a higher percentage of elderly people than in China, France, or Spain. “Furthermore, Italian culture is very warm, and Italians have a very rich social life. For these reasons, it is important to keep people apart and prevent sick people from coming into contact with healthy people.”

China did great work and managed to gain complete control of the virus, Levitt said. “Currently, I am most worried about the U.S. It must isolate as many people as possible to buy time for preparations. Otherwise, it can end up in a situation where 20,000 infected people will descend on the nearest hospital at the same time and the healthcare system will collapse.”

Israel currently does not have enough cases to provide the data needed to make estimates, Levitt said, but from what he can tell, the Ministry of Health is dealing with the pandemic in a correct, positive way. “The more severe the defensive measures taken, the more they will buy time to prepare for needed treatment and develop a vaccine.”

Levitt avoids making global forecasts. In China, he said, the number of new infections will soon reach zero, and South Korea is past the median point and can already see the end. Regarding the rest of the world, it is still hard to tell, he said. “It will end when all those who are sick will only meet people they have already infected. The goal is not to reach the situation the cruise ship experienced.”

Glad to see the optimism for China and Korea at least, let's hope the steps taken in the U.S. so far will see this crisis flatten out soon. At least by the summer as estimated over the weekend by federal officials.

Doctors' Group Plans Apology For Racism

From the Washington Post via Newsalert. Apparently the American Medical Association once denied membership to black doctors. Here's an excerpt:

The country's largest medical association is set to issue a formal apology today for its historical antipathy toward African American doctors, expressing regret for a litany of transgressions, including barring black physicians from its ranks for decades and remaining silent during battles on landmark legislation to end racial discrimination.

The apology marks one of the rare times a major national organization has expressed contrition for its role in the segregation and discrimination that black people have experienced in the United States.

In a commentary in the July 16 Journal of the American Medical Association, Ronald M. Davis, the organization's immediate past president, noted that many of the organization's questionable actions reflected the "social mores and racial discrimination" that existed for much of the country's history. But, he wrote, that should not excuse them.

"The medical profession, which is based on a boundless respect for human life, had an obligation to lead society away from disrespect of so many lives," Davis wrote. "The AMA failed to do so and has apologized for that failure."

AMA officials declined yesterday to discuss specifics of the apology, including how it came about, saying that information would be released today. But the Davis article refers to a committee of experts convened and supported by the organization to examine "the historic roots of the black-white divide in U.S. medicine."

This is a good step for an organization such as this, but then what's next?