Coronavirus — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Coronavirus (or COVID-19) has threatened the globe in varying ways.

More than 320,000 people have died globally during the pandemic.

Draconian lockdown measures imposed by certain governments have caused significant damage to the economy here, and abroad.

In my view, the pandemic also has exposed three different types of attitudes.

I describe them as resembling the characters in the classic Western movie, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

"The Good" in this context represents scientists such as Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who informed the world about the virus.

He most likely lost his life doing so.

Another is Didier Raoult, the French physician and microbiologist who proved in a double-blind, peer-reviewed study the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin in treating the virus. Yet another is Fox News, which reported Dr. Raoult’s results.

And there is Donald J. Trump, president of the United States, who has never hesitated to speak out in favor of the medication. He has played a major role in supporting the start of clinical trials to continue to examine its effectiveness

The president disclosed that he has been taking the medication himself as a preventative measure. I truly believe that the deeds of these individuals have helped save humanity from this pandemic.

"The Bad" is represented by the news media. They have tried to fight a potentially curative medicine using a dishonest approach. For example, many mainstream outlets have focused only on hydroxychloroquine’s possible side effects on the heart, portraying it as a "dangerous" cardiotoxic drug.

Yet those outlets have never mentioned that the World Health Organization (WHO) itself has reported not a single death from using hydroxychloroquine because of cardiotoxicity.

The American College of cardiology has made it clear that "several hundred million courses of chloroquine have been used worldwide making it one of the most widely used drugs in history, without reports of arrhythmic death under World Health Organization surveillance."

They also ignored the fact that the American College of Cardiology has supported the use of the drug even in outpatient clinic settings.

In fact, azithromycin, the partner drug of hydroxychloroquine, in treating COVID-19, is considered by the WHO to be more cardiotoxic, with a one per million deaths from cardiac complications, compared to zero in case of hydroxychloroquine.

Biased media seems oblivious to the fact that almost all approved drugs can cause serious side effects. If you doubt me, pay close attention to the next television spot for a medication, or read the fine print in its magazine spread.

Yet — public-health agencies continue to approve such medications as long as their risk/benefit ratio is acceptable.

Given these facts, I find it appalling that so many media outlets have selectively promoted the potential dangers of the hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin combination to treat COVID-19.

Their efforts likely have resulted in killing many patients who refused to use the treatment for fear of its possible cardiotoxicity.

Why this bias?

It seems obvious: President Trump has been promoting the hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin combination, and the media tend to oppose or ridicule anything this president supports. Another reason is possibly that, the media want to prolong the epidemic to cause an economic recession, thereby harming President Trump’s re-election chances.

Television host Bill Maher has articulated and recommended just such an approach.

"The Ugly" in this matter is personified by some medical organizations and researchers shamelessly trying to distort study results to reach intended conclusions.

For example, recent anecdotal research published by the Journal of the American Medical Association compared the results achieved by using hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in treating COVID-19 to a control group that did not receive the drug.

They concluded that the results of results of hydroxychloroquine treatment were no better than the placebo administered to the control group.

The media then dutifully reported that hydroxychloroquine had failed as a COVID-19 treatment.

However, those accounts omitted that the control group had no serious complications compared to the medicated group, who had additional pre-existing conditions: diabetes, serious chest problems, significantly low oxygen levels, and severe liver problems.

In order to study the effectiveness of a drug correctly, the patients in the control group (or the group that used no medication) must have the same level of complications as those receiving the test drug.

In the above case, the control group needed to display the same associated complications: diabetes, lung dysfunction, low oxygen level and liver damage.

Not doing so, and comparing the effect of the drug to the effects of the placebo, is a form of scientific dishonesty, if not intentional deception.

Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid) M.D.; Mlitt (Edu) has testified before Congress and before the European Parliament. Dr. Hamid is the author of "Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works, Why It Should Terrify Us, How to Defeat It." Read Dr. Tawfik Hamid's Reports — More Here.