Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, now a pandemic, that noted medical specialist President Donald Trump has been trumpeting the efficacy of the drug hydroxychloroquine. Since this drug was already FDA approved, a long set of tests to make sure it did no harm were unnecessary, but it hadn’t ever been proscribed to combat Coronoviruses.
Soon, both President Trump and Fox (sic) News were touting the efficacy of this drug for this disease. There was only one part missing . . . any evidence it was effective against COVID-19, so some trials were quickly devised and approved. In a French study the drug had no effect whatsoever on COVID-19 suffers and in a larger US study involving Veteran’s Affairs patients, who were likely Trumpeters, it had an effect. The veterans who were given the drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment died at a higher rate than the people who were not administered the drug.
President Trump and Fox (sic) News have stopped touting the miracle drug hydroxychloroquine. Hmm, I wonder why?
In economics there is a concept called an opportunity cost, which is basically common sense. It is the simple fact that if you choose to take action A, you are forgoing the opportunity to take action B, action C, etc. So, the President and his enablers/co-conspirators pushed a useless drug to the top of the list for tests, applying no medical knowledge or common sense at all.
And while those researchers were investigating the useless hydroxychloroquine drug, other drugs that could have been helpful were not being tested by those teams of researchers.
I am sure the President and Fox (sic) News are, right now, shrugging and mumbling “Who knew?” Apparently any number of the President’s advisors knew, but what do they know, they’re just the experts, right?
Uncommon Sense 
I don’t listen to anything coming out of the WH any more because if the last few years should have taught us anything it’s that the current occupants will do and say anything if they think it will make them look better, even if it contradicts known facts.
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Comment by grouchyfarmer — April 23, 2020 @ 10:23 pm |
Me, too! I only watch the actions of the administration and the actions caused by the administration. I haven’t heard a word spoken by the POTUS in months.
Trump is the Great Distractor and while we are distracted the GOP minions (small, yellow, not cute) are doing the GOP’s dirty work.
On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 10:23 PM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — April 24, 2020 @ 7:25 am |
One of the sleaziest of the sleaze news media, the Daily Mail (which is sort of like Fox News only with even *less* ethical values) in the UK came right out and in an editorial headline in very large type called Trump “batshit crazy” after the ‘inject disinfectant’ garbage he spouted. To quote the last line of the story, they said “the President needs to SHUT THE F*CK UP.”
When the Daily Mail starts calling your president batshit crazy and that he needs to shut the fuck up, you know you’re country has hit an all time low.
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Comment by grouchyfarmer — April 24, 2020 @ 12:16 pm |
Occasionally, “the Mail” gets it right!
On Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 12:16 PM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — April 24, 2020 @ 12:43 pm |
So essentially president trump can’t even get the placebo effect to work. T
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Comment by jim- — April 23, 2020 @ 10:36 pm |
Good point!
On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 10:36 PM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — April 24, 2020 @ 7:26 am |
Hydroxychloroquine is soooo yesterday. Lysol, my friend, Lysol! THAT is the cure. I injected some in my eye and I feel great… and clean!
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Comment by john zande — April 24, 2020 @ 7:17 am |
I was wondering what that new scent you were wearing was. Very fresh! Actually I like Lysol a great deal more than drinking cow urine. That must piss Trump off something fierce (accidental pun, that) … I can hear the Trumpeted thought balloon “Why all the cows? It is not about the cows; it is about me …”
On Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 7:17 AM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — April 24, 2020 @ 7:28 am |
And don’t forget to turn the light on. Did you see that, putting light inside every infected body speech?
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Comment by jim- — April 24, 2020 @ 8:21 am |
I did, and I was impressed. the knowledge of the man is astonishing. I’ve eaten eight light bulbs already today and I feel like i’m 18 again!
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Comment by john zande — April 24, 2020 @ 8:27 am |
UV, LED, incandescent, or fluorescent? It matters. Pretty soon he’ll be selling magnetic water
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Comment by jim- — April 24, 2020 @ 8:40 am |
M A G N E T I C W A T E R !
Yes. A thousand times, YES!
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Comment by john zande — April 24, 2020 @ 8:53 am |
I have heard, but haven’t verified, that the orange idiot would have profited from sales of chloroquine. Which would explain why he pulled that rabbit out of his ass.
Would not surprise me if he has friends in the disinfectant manufacturing circles…
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Comment by shelldigger — April 24, 2020 @ 11:32 am |
Americans, you have my utmost sympathies, I feel ashamed that people like Trump are mostly from British and European immigrant stock.
Obviously to arm yourself with military weapons, march down the street and demand and threaten to end to the government lock down directives is the result of something in the drinking water that has warped their brains, do they have lead lined pipes in Michigan, and what the hell did the cops do?
Of course most are simply just loving Christian Trump people who want their god given freedom regardless of any deaths they may cause.
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Comment by sklyjd — April 24, 2020 @ 9:42 pm |
It seems to be a problem that solves itself. Many of the protesters will be in bed for a couple of weeks, some won’t make it out.
Maybe we should thank these people volunteering to do the experiment as to whether it is the right time to lift the current restrictions.
On Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 9:42 PM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — April 25, 2020 @ 8:24 am |
I agree that Trump and Fox touting hydrochloroquine as a magical cure was irresponsible and dangerous.
At the same time, it would also be irresponsible to not test a medicine that may have potential benefit, after a few doctors have claimed it works. It’s not like we have any medicine that we know to actually work, or there are promising treatments already approved by the FDA, or that hydrochloroquine is a quack recipe like homeopathy or leeches. It’s not even like we only have a single lab that can only test one drug candidate at a given time – so the opportunity cost doesn’t really factor as much – if there are dozens, if not hundreds of labs, it actually makes more sense to test as many potential drugs as possible.
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Comment by List of X — April 28, 2020 @ 4:44 pm |
The initial study that the first claims were based upon were clearly flawed, so I think the lab which did the study to verify unsupported claims would have been better off scouring the pharmacopoeia looking for candidates to test, that test one that really had no real support in the first place. And I think you overestimate the number of labs set up to do such studies, especially in a time of social distancing. (Yes, they are probably considered an “essential” business but they can only safely operate with enough PPE and test kits available, taking those from first responders.
On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 4:44 PM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — April 29, 2020 @ 12:40 pm |
Of course, the initial study was flawed. If it would have been done properly, it would have determined whether the drug works (or doesn’t), and further studies would have been unnecessary.
I don’t know how many labs are working on coronavirus drugs, but I’m guessing it’s dozens in the US alone, and there could be hundreds all over the world.
As for using the PPE and test kits, the researchers would be using these no matter what potential drug they are testing, and from what I understand, something like 95% of potential drugs being tested end up failing in the trials. And for brand new test drugs, it could take months before it’s even cleared to be tested on humans. Which made hydrochloroquine – an FDA approved drug with industrial production already set up – the lowest-hanging fruit, and just because Trump grabbed it with his dirty paws first doesn’t necessarily render it automatically poisonous.
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Comment by List of X — April 29, 2020 @ 1:44 pm |
I just saw a preliminary study that shows an existing anti-viral med may ameliorate symptoms of this virus. (That’s kind of where I would have started in any case.)
On Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 1:44 PM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — April 30, 2020 @ 11:48 am |
I would do exactly the same if I had only one lab. But with many labs working on Covid19 at the same time, it makes more sense to study as many different approaches as possible.
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Comment by List of X — May 2, 2020 @ 7:12 am |
I suspect that neither of us knows how many labs and researchers are involved. This is usually done by government labs because the private/university/other labs have to await funding such projects. And I haven’t exactly seen a lot of support from this administration for CDC labs, which can do the work or for quick funding for private labs that can do this work.
I also remember the last time we need a great deal more of a flu vaccine (they all being different each season) and their were enough manufacturing facilities to create the stuff, so doses were “managed.” I’d be shocked to find that if a serum to treat the disease were discovered, that we had the capacity to come anywhere near meeting the demand for it. Same for when a vaccine is developed.
And I have fallen from my perch as a sunny optimist. I don’t trust any American news sources at this point (NPR a little bit), so it is hard to know whether one has anything near an accurate picture of what is going on.
On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 7:13 AM Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — May 2, 2020 @ 9:09 am |
As much as I hate it, I have to agree with your last statement re: the news sources. Even so-called “reliable” ones are presenting different (often contrary) perspectives. I suppose it ultimately has to do with $$$$ –like everything else– in that what will “sell” is what gets published.
Add to this, of course, is the constant uproar Trump causes every time he opens his mouth. Today it’s this, tomorrow it’s that. And by next week no doubt the virus will have disappeared completely and it was all a big spoof.
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Comment by Nan — May 2, 2020 @ 12:37 pm |
I haven’t heard a word spoken by the POTUS in many months. I do pat attention, quite a bit of it, to what the GOP goons are doing in “His Name.” Trump is not bright enough to wreak the havoc being wreaked.
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Comment by Steve Ruis — May 2, 2020 @ 12:39 pm |