Michigan Democratic State Representative Karen Whitsett told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday that the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine stopped her coronavirus symptoms "within a couple hours."
Whitsett represents parts of Detroit, a city that has been labeled a coronavirus "hot spot." Recent data indicated 5,032 positive cases in Detroit with 196 deaths attributable to the virus reported in the city.
"If President Trump had not talked about this, it would not be something that's accessible for anyone to get, not right now," Whitsett said.
www.newsweek.com
Here are some of the infected patients who have credited the medication for the improvement in their condition.
Rio Giardinieri, who is the vice-president of a company that manufactures cooking equipment for high-end restaurants in Los Angeles, said his doctors administered the drug as a last hope for his recovery.
The 52-year-old believes he contracted the virus during a conference in New York and immediately fell ill with a fever for five days, back pain, headaches, a cough and fatigue.
'I was at the point where I was barely able to speak, and breathing was very challenging,' he told
Fox 6.
He went to Joe DiMaggio Hospital in South Florida, where doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia and coronavirus.
Giardinieri explained that he was placed on oxygen but he was still unable to breath.
After a week, doctors told him there was nothing else they could do and on Friday evening he said goodbye to his wife and three children.
'I really thought my end was there. I had been through nine days of solid pain and for me, the end was there, so I made some calls to say, in my own way, goodbye to my friends and family,' he told the news site.
Giardinieri said a friend then told him about the anti-malaria drug. He immediately asked a doctor to administer the medication.
He then explained what came next, including the moment when he felt like his heart was beating out of his chest.
'They had to come in, and get me calmed down, and take care of me,' Giardinieri said.
But then the next morning he says he 'woke up like nothing ever happened' and feeling much better.
The doctors said they don't believe Giardinieri's episode was a reaction to the anti-malaria drug but instead was likely the virus progressing in his body.
'To me, the drug saved my life,' Giardinieri said.
Meanwhile Margaret Novins in New Jersey, where there are more than 2,800 confirmed coronavirus cases and 27 deaths, Novins had a very similar experience.
She told
Forbes that she began feeling ill on March 8 and by March 15 she 'couldn't breathe'.
Novins said she was initially diagnosed with pneumonia before getting more test results back on March 19 that showed she was positive for coronavirus.
The 53-year-old said her doctors categorized her as 'critical' and she was given the hydroxychloroquine drug. When she woke up on Saturday her fever was gone, which is 'fantastic', she said.
Novins told the news site that her doctor 'insisted the pharmacy get it to me the minute we got the positive'.
'It seemed like their go-to right away.'
In North Carolina, Jeff Hensley, 57, was hospitalized over the weekend with labored breathing after he tested positive for COVID-19
The Harnett County man started feeling sick on March 4 while working in Hawaii.
According to
The News & Observer, Hensley had asked to be tested for the virus three times after returning to North Carolina on March 7.
His wife told the news site that her husband was finally admitted and 'is on oxygen'.
She said doctors are currently treating him with the anti-malaria drug.
Though the drug is not FDA approved his wife says she's glad he's being treated with it.
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