On COVID-19, don’t listen to Trump, DeSantis and other non-scientists | Letter to the editor

For weeks, the president has been touting the miracle of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment (or prevention) for COVID-19. He does this even though the medical community has NOT said that it will work, only that they are looking into the possibility. And he has done so even though he is not even close to being a scientist or a medical doctor.

It reminds me of the Vicks commercial from the 80s where soap opera actor Chris Robinson says, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.” This should be something Trump says every time he tries to convince people to take a particular drug for the coronavirus.

After all of Trump’s declarations that hydroxychloroquine was going to be a miracle drug for COVID-19 (which led to shortages for people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus), it turns out that the results are WORSE for people who were given the drug than for those who weren’t. WORSE! We need to listen to the doctors who warned against reliance on a drug with known side effects that had not been tested for efficacy against this particular virus.

The bottom line is that we are dealing with a global health crisis that is being managed in this country by a president that discounts science and makes decisions based on his infamous “gut.” And unfortunately, in Florida, we have a governor who follows in Trump’s footsteps and is likely to take us down paths that will lead to more, rather than fewer, deaths.

We need to pay attention to what the doctors are saying. Even if the governor decides to open the state up, we each need to consider our own health and the health of our family. For many of us, that means staying socially isolated until there is a vaccine.

Jenni Casale

Palmetto

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 8:17 AM.