A lot of people have been hopeful about hydroxycholoroquine and it's potential to server as a prophylactic against the virus. So what this means is not that it fights the virus by killing it off, but instead, acts as a shield protecting from infection.
So is there any evidence or positive news to support this case? Well, the Italian Rheumatology Society conducted a survey and found that out of 65,000 chronic Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis patients who take HCQ for their symptoms, only 20 of them tested positive for COVID-19. That's 0.0003%!
Obviously there are a myriad of reasons other than HCQ which can explain the figures, for one, some of those conditions may give a natural immune resistance to COVID-19, or perhaps, those who are immunocompromised are being extra careful in shielding themselves from infection anyway.
However, there is further research suggesting that HCQ might still be of some value, and that it not only helps with pre-infection shielding, but also with post infection.
In Korea, one particular hospital decided to trial HCQ on over 200 patients as well as clinicians who were tested negative, and they wanted to see whether there was a significant resistance to infection some weeks later. Sure enough, not one of those people had become infected two weeks later.
In Spain, researchers claim that HCQ is indeed an effective treatment, but only if administered early enough.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477893920302179
However, studies on patients with existing COVID-19 conditions, have also found that administering HCQ, yielded non-significant results in terms of recovery.
So, at least for now, HCQ seems to be more valuable as a prophylactic, allowing you to stay safe whilst you take it, and go about business as usual. If it were to be given to the general population at large, then it may help with burning out the virus as the temporary herd immunity kicks in.
Some researchers have even suggested taking HCQ in tandem with Ivermectin. HCQ to shield against cell entry, and Ivermectin to prevent replication.
The good thing about HCQ and Ivermectin, is that they cost very little, pennies in-fact. A scaling up of production and distribution would give us a chance to end the pandemic by the end of the year.
The problem with this idea, is that HCQ has become a political bargaining chip with a lot of scientists dismissive of it's potential value for no other reason than Trump being an advocate of it.
As it stands, I personally believe HCQ is one of our most viable tools to combat the pandemic, and help elevate us out of the associated crises. Like protective gear, masks etc. we should be ramping up production of it.
Those in power may feel contempt at holding us prisoners in our own home while they carefully plan ways to strip us of our freedom and liberty not only now, but in the future, but we must do all we can to show that there are emerging ways to tackle the pandemic, and staying at home is not a permanent solution to anything.