August 2, 2020

How long before Trump is sending out angry tweets attacking Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir? Admiral Brett Giroir was asked about the danger from his boss constantly pushing the drug Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus during an interview on this Sunday's Meet the Press, consequences and risks for the safety of those foolish to listen to him be damned, and the Admiral refused to play along with Trump's gaslighting on the topic.

CHUCK TODD: Look, I know you're not a political person, but the president continues to advocate for Hydroxychloroquine. Is that a danger to public health?

ADM. BRETT GIROIR: So, from a public health standpoint, at first Hydroxychloroquine looked very promising. There were not the definitive studies. At this point in time, there has been five randomized controlled, placebo controlled trials that do not show any benefit to Hydroxychloroquine.

So, at this point in time, we don't recommend that as a treatment. There's no evidence to show that it is. But on the other hand, we have Remdesivir, we have steroids which reduce mortality by 30 percent. We still don't know about immune plasma, but it has worked in many other circumstances. There are many trials and you heard that national call for that. And a vaccine looks very promising as well. So, we have many things that do work. Right now, Hydroxychloroquine, I can't recommend that.

CHUCK TODD: Now, I was just going to say, are you concerned though that because of this mixed messaging, that it continues -- it's going to continue to, sort of, create this fog, if you will, about treatments and misuse of this drug?

ADM. BRETT GIROIR: So, Hydroxychloroquine needs to be prescribed by a physician. There may be circumstances, I don't know what they are, where a physician may prescribe it for an individual. But I think most physicians and prescribers are evidence based and they're not influenced by whatever is on Twitter or anything else. And the evidence just doesn't show that Hydroxychloroquine is effective right now.

I think we need to move on from that and talk about what is effective, both from a public health standpoint. I told you the masks, the crowds, wash your hands, avoid indoor spaces. And for treatments, we know that if you get COVID now, your chances of dying are incredibly less than they were in April because our healthcare providers know how to treat it better. We have effective therapies like Remdesivir and steroids, promising therapies like immune plasma, and a vaccine really on the horizon.

Giroir failed to mention that "whatever is on Twitter" is the crap coming straight from his boss and his sycophants on Fox, not just some random people that no one is paying attention to, and the danger to public health that is a direct result of their reckless and irresponsible actions.

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