Detroit is actually doing a “proactive” Hydroxycholoroquine program - giving it preventatively to first responders, nurses and anyone who wants to voluntarily take it as part of a study to test effectiveness.
They claim those doses are “new” and won’t come from existing inventory used to treat Lupus, Arthritis and other diseases.
Should be interesting to see what if anything this proves, but I’m pretty confident based on everything I’ve heard that it will prevent those who volunteer from coming down with this thing.
That’s what the story said the Indians want it for, to give to their healthcare workers.
India is an interesting case. It’s close to China so I expected a massive outbreak, but that didn’t happen initially. That could have been due to not testing, and cases the past couple of days are rising fast now, but India is a malaria country so I wondered if the lack of cases could be due to prophylactic use of HCQ during malaria season.
It also occurs to me that if HCQ is used extensively in India, there are a lot of doctors there who could fairly soon be able to determine whether their patients on HCQ are less prone to Covid-19 than their other patients, especially if it were highly effective. I don’t know about the timing though. They might not have taken any in months, or they might already be on it for the coming malaria season? I’ve no idea.