Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, whose coronavirus diagnosis Wednesday morning caused a commotion in D.C. after he had been seen going maskless in the House, revealed to Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday evening he would take hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug praised by President Donald Trump that is increasingly seen by experts as largely ineffective against coronavirus and possibly dangerous.
KEY FACTS
“My doctor and I are all in,” Gohmert said of his plans to take hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment.
Hydroxychloroquine, while an established part of lupus, malaria and arthritis treatment, has been controversial as a coronavirus drug as the scientific and medical communities increasingly seem to be turning their back on it as evidence mounts it may not have much effect on coronavirus, and that it could come with potential dangerous side effects.
This hasn’t stopped Trump from repeatedly promoting hydroxychloroquine, even as recently as Tuesday, when he shared several posts on Twitter referring to the drug that the platform later took down for breaking the site’s rules about misinformation.
Gohmert also told Hannity Wednesday that if Trump had not invited the congressman to accompany him on his trip to Texas Wednesday Gohmert “would never have known” he was infected, he said.
His diagnosis put pressure on lawmakers in D.C. to prevent more infections, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying she will order a mask mandate as others demand more testing of lawmakers.
As for Gohmert, he will go into quarantine, as will several others who came into contact with him in recent days, like Rep. Kay Granger (R-Tex.), who on Sunday sat next to Gohmert on a plane.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“The overwhelming, prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News Tuesday after Trump tweeted about the drug.
KEY BACKGROUND
The World Health Organization earlier this month pulled trials that tested hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir, a drug used to treat HIV, on coronavirus patients after the two “produced little or no reduction” in death rates in hospitals. The National Institute of Health also halted hydroxychloroquine clinical trials as a hospital treatment last month, writing in a release that it was “very unlikely” to benefit coronavirus patients in hospital, though the NIH added it appeared “there was no harm” in taking the drug. In June, the Food and Drug Administration withdrew a previous emergency use authorization to use hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat coronavirus after just a few months, citing heart problems as a possible side effect.
