Seeking out information about COVID-19 online means wandering through a wild morass of truth, speculation and outright lies.
And sometimes they do a very good job of making a shoddy argument look like an authoritative study.
People who shared it probably didnt bother to check whether itwaslegit, because itlookedlegit.
Itshcqtrial.com, and its not a study, but its definitely packaged to look like one.
What itactuallyis, is an anonymous website with many of its sources credited to also-anonymous Twitter accounts.
But whats even sneakier is the way it co-opts the language of science and deliberately misuses words.
Randomized trials are good, and the bigger the better, generally.
But of course, no one did.
So whatisthis study?
People in these countries could choose whether they wanted to take the drug or not.
These countries governments could choose whether they wanted to set a policy or make a recommendation about the drug.
Nothing whatsoever about this is randomized.
(This study is bullshit.)
Why put so much energy into faking a study on hydroxychloroquine?
Names arent necessary to judge the publication on its merits, but accountability is important.
Who put this study up, and why?
Remember, hydroxychloroquine has become radically politicized.
QAnon supporters have created whole story arcs about how the FDA is trying to hide the drugs supposed effectiveness.
One meme I saw in a conspiracy theory Facebook group says I have an idea!
The Trump supporters will get the hydroxychloroquine & the democrats will get the Bill Gates vaccine!
(They think Bill Gates is using the vaccine as a way to microchip the worlds population.
Is it possible that theres a use of the drug that could wind up helping fight COVID-19?
Sure, but that possibility is very remote, and getting smaller by the day.
As Meyerowitz-Katzwrites:
Hydroxychloroquine
probably doesnt work
for coronavirus.
It
doesnt help
people who have severe illness.
It
doesnt prevent
illness in high-risk groups.
Theres
no evidence
it benefits people with mild disease either,
even in combination with azithromycin
.
The people behind the websitewhoever they arearent behaving like scientists with an analysis to discuss.
