There is a doctor right here on FR who has said he personally wrote prescriptions for patients that were not infected, as a "just in case" type measure. And he is certainly not alone. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if somewhere near 1% of the population now has a course of HCQ in their medicine cabinet "just in case".
My previous (now retired) doctor gave me a preventative prescription for prednisone for a recurrent leg rash caused by my mild autoimmune disorder. I used it once and he gave me another which I still have but it’s several years old now.
Before I even watched the video of the press conference where Trump talked about the possible cure, I saw people clustered around a closed drugstore. I was reading the sign on the door when they dispersed. They probably thought I was listening. I wondered what it was all about. Just stocking up on meds?
But later I saw the video and caught on.
New Yorkers are very fast when something like this happens.