Trump’s Faulty Malaria-Coronavirus Connection
Falsely citing “studies,” President Donald Trump has suggested that there are few novel coronavirus cases in “malaria countries” because of the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. But no such studies exist, and the drug is not widely used for malaria in much of the world.
Trump has aggressively promoted hydroxychloroquine for weeks, despite limited evidence at this point that it is safe or effective to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. And he has latched on to indications it could be working — even if the basic facts undermine his argument.
“It is extremely unlikely that relatively low rates of the [coronavirus] infection in sub-Saharan Africa are related to the use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine,” Michigan State University malaria researcher Terrie Taylor told us, also referring to a similar malaria drug Trump has pushed as a COVID-19 treatment. “Neither has been the first-line treatment for malaria illness for many years.”
Trump first suggested hydroxychloroquine was
