Sadly, it appears Dr. Navarro, senior advisor to the President and holder of no medical-related degrees at all, may be wrong about hydroxychloroquine:
A malaria drug widely touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus showed no benefit in a large analysis of its use in U.S. veterans hospitals. There were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, researchers reported.
The nationwide study was not a rigorous experiment. But with 368 patients, it’s the largest look so far of hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin for COVID-19, which has killed more than 171,000 people as of Tuesday. [AP]
Note the caveat by the researchers – not a rigorous test. Nor is 368 a particularly large number, so I wouldn’t take too seriously the statement that there were more deaths in the hydroxychloroquine group; there are many factors for which controls would have to be implemented, as well.
But for those itching to end this crisis now – and I do believe we can state that group is roughly equivalent to the entire population of the world, including myself – this is not the positive signal for which we were hoping. If this was the fix, I would expect some signal to come through the noise. There still might turn out to be some positive benefit for some patients, but the lack of signal suggests its potential is limited.
And this shouldn’t be surprising. This is the Administration of Arrogant Amateurs. They’ve had decades of telling themselves they could do better than the experts, and, well, it’s just not happening. They’re worse. If more reports surface of well-done studies of hydroxychloroquine’s effect on Covid-19 that are negative, then Dr. Navarro may come to the ego-deflating realization that knowing a bit about statistics isn’t enough when it comes to medicine.
Or will he? One of the problems of this Administration has been hubris: acknowledging mistakes is simply not in the makeup, political or psychological, of President Trump. Last night I saw a clip of a press conference with President Trump in which a reporter brought up the campaign rallies held since the coronavirus became prevalent in the United States, and he said he didn’t remember any campaign rallies.
Dr. Navarro may never admit this error, and if an error cannot be admitted, it’s unlikely it’ll be the source of learning. I wonder how many other medicines will be getting the rah-rah treatment. I hope none of my readers find themselves running short on some med that’s caught the eye of the Administration.
