Prescription for defeating COVID-19 is to keep an open mind
SAN DIEGO -- It's not just toilet paper that is in short supply. Americans are also suffering through a shortage of common sense.
Having more of it would allow them to put aside politics and partisanship long enough to consider the possibility that there's already a drug on the market that might be effective in treating COVID-19.
If that's true, we should all want three things: to hear more about the drug, to have a national conversation about its effects (good and bad), and for the drug to be produced in greater quantity so it is more readily available.
This is not much to ask. And it should not be controversial.
Some people argue that creating a stampede for the medicine would wipe out the supply for existing patients who depend on it to treat other conditions.
Fair point. That seems to be happening. There are disturbing stories about doctors stockpiling the drug. Maybe they know something we don't.
But the main reason so many people -- especially those in the media -- have been hating on this drug is that it has been endorsed by President Trump.
Imagine that Trump had -- during one of those contentious White House briefings a couple weeks ago -- never mentioned hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Imagine Trump had never optimistically touted the prescription drug -- currently used primarily to treat lupus and prevent malaria -- as a potential "game changer" for patients dealing with the coronavirus, especially when combined with antibiotics.
We would be in a whole different place. The media and Democratic politicians would probably be leading the way in calling for more of these drugs. Instead, some have been pooh-poohing their effectiveness and looking for clouds behind every silver lining.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- which did eventually come around to issuing an emergency approval of the drugs to treat COVID-19 -- might have reached that point sooner.
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