Then there should be ample evidence of increased cardiac events in areas that have increased their use. Does that data exist? All the Covid deaths claimed, fail to list comparisons of previous deaths from other causes. Has death rate for other causes declined? Has total death rate increased? I haven't seen any comparisons at all. I have seen claims that more people have died of plain old influenza than Covid, which is it.
The problem is not the science the problem is the politics and people are apt to not trust any government data on this because they openly declare they are not surrendering emergency powers until after the election. Civil war would have already been full bore if Trump announced such a thing and you know it.
Think what you want i do not think it should be an over the counter medication. People are so dug in politically they see the utility of the drug as a referendum on Trump. I just want the best for my patients politics aside. If it works great - but I have not seen convincing evidence of that in the patient population I treat (hospitalized patients). routinely monitoring the QT interval in such patients caused us to discontinue it in a fair amount of patients. Whether you believe it or not a prolonged QT interval is a risk for some very nasty cardiac arrhythmias.
Even before this I have seen drugs that everyone knew worked turn out to be killing people when the studies were finally done. Read about a drug called xigris if you are interested I personally do not have a dog in the hunt on hydroxychloroquine I am good with following the clinical studies. Like all therapies I hope it works but it certainly is not a magic bullet. Frankly the most promising therapy is the decadron.