New York obtains Chloroquine and other drugs to treat coronavirus patients

In a press conference from Albany today, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state of New York would be obtaining the pharmaceuticals Hydroxychloroquine, Zithromax and Chloroquine from the federal government, and would use them to treat the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The state has obtained large quantities of these drugs, and plan to start trials with coronavirus patients on Tuesday.

The information that has come out about these drugs has been confusing, and there have been disparate perspectives on whether they would be useful or pose an additional danger to the public.

Chloroquine is an anti-malarial drug that has not yet been approved for the treatment of the COVID-19 coronavirus. In a press conference, President Trump announced that the Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) had approved it, only to have the FDA jump in and say that this was not so. This added to some of the confusion over a drug that Canada is already using to treat patients.

There are no known drugs that thoroughly effective in treating the coronavirus, but the FDA is investigating Chloroquine as an option. Trump announced that the drug had been authorized for what's known as "compassionate use," where a doctor can adminster the drug at their own discretion, in the absense of existing effective options.

Cuomo also called on the FDA to approve tests that would show if a person had already had the coronavirus, so that the portion of the population that has already been infected and recovered could get back to their normal lives. These people would also be useful in helping treat or care for new cases of coronavirus patients.

At time of writing, New York has over 15,000 cases, and 5 percent of the total cases globally.