All Episodes
Previous Next
March 28, 2020 - Rudy Giuliani
41:25
EXCELLENT NEWS: Hydroxychloroquine Treatment Effective on 699 Patients
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
It's our purpose to bring to bear the principle of common sense and rational discussion to the issues of our day.
America was created at a time of great turmoil, tremendous disagreements, anger, hatred.
There was a book written in 1776 that guided much of the discipline of thinking that brought us to the discovery of our freedoms, of our God-given freedoms.
It was Thomas Paine's Common Sense, written in 1776, one of the first American bestsellers in which Thomas Paine explained by rational principles the reason why these small colonies felt the necessity to separate from the powerful Kingdom of England and the King of England.
He explained their inherent desire for liberty, freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and he explained it in ways that were understandable to the people, to all of the people.
A great deal of the reason for America's constant ability to self-improve is because we are able to reason, we're able to talk to each other, we're able to listen to each other, and we're able to analyze.
We are able to apply our God-given common sense.
So let's do it.
Hello everyone, it's Rudy Giuliani and I'm back with a special edition of Rudy Giuliani's
Common Sense.
Today, of course, we're going to concentrate on COVID-19.
And we're going to have some very, very special guests, people who are involved in it, doctors and some patients who can describe some of the therapies that seem to be working and some of the symptoms that are the worst.
and the things to look for, but from a practical point of view.
Our first guest is Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, who is treating hundreds of patients in a community called Curious Joel in New York.
He has applied a therapy that he'll describe that seems to be having very, very solid success.
And so I think it'd be very worthwhile if he shared that with us.
And I will now bring him to you.
Dr. Zelenko, how are you?
I'm great.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for having me.
Well, thank you for your wonderful work and for sharing it with us.
Can you tell us, Doctor, how did you first become aware of COVID-19, novel coronavirus?
Pretty much the same way everyone else did, you know, from the news.
And we knew that it came out in January or so, that something was going on in China.
They made an announcement.
And then you started migrating closer to us.
We knew the enemy was coming.
It wasn't a surprise.
So what did you do to prepare?
And why did you think it would hit a community like Curious Joelle?
I mean, describe the community so people will understand.
It's an Orthodox Jewish community.
Very religious.
Yes.
Very Zion community.
Yeah, I love it.
I've been there 16 years.
How many? 16?
Yeah, I'm their primary care doctor for 75% of the adult population.
And I love the people there and it's a wonderful, wonderful place.
How many people?
It's around 35,000.
Right.
And the average age is around 15.
They have a lot of kids.
So why did you think that this community that would, you know, not really... I wouldn't think of it as a target because of that average age of 16.
Why did you think it would be...
Afflicted by this or could be Because it's a community that has relatively dense living similar to Brooklyn or the city where Many people live close together.
So that that's a very common cause for the spread of disease Even though even though it and how about travel I mean Do Do the people in the community, would they tend to be traveling to China, or people from China traveling to the community?
No, it's more all the way around.
There's a lot of business that's done.
Some of my patients travel to China on a regular basis, so that is known to happen.
So, you also had that, that there'd be the possibility that people would travel to China.
It's true, but in this world, everything's so interconnected, everything's so global.
In reality, you know that This virus will reach everyone.
And it has to reach everyone.
You know why?
This is an interesting observation.
The virus has to reach everyone?
Why is that?
Because everyone has to become immune to this virus.
Now, ideally, we should have a vaccine that instead of getting measles, for example, you take the vaccine.
It should be the same model.
We should have a vaccine for this virus.
And instead of getting this virus, we should get immunized.
However, We don't have a vaccine, and it's a new infection, and it's spreading throughout the world, and every person, sooner or later, has to become immune to this virus.
So they could become immune by getting the virus, right?
Right now, that's the only way to become immune.
And obviously overcoming it.
Does that give you an immunity if you get the virus and then, you know, you're cured?
We don't know for sure, but most likely, yes.
That's true with most viruses.
But again, we don't know this virus well enough to know all its properties, right?
Wouldn't that be fair to say?
Correct.
Time will tell.
This is something new and something we're dealing with that has never been dealt with before.
So there's so many unknown and unanswered questions.
So when did you get your first case presented?
Or maybe better, when did you first come up with your plan of action?
The exact timeline is a little vague, but I saw it hit New York City before it came to us and migrated upstate.
And so I knew it was coming.
I started hearing reports.
I get the notifications from the Department of Health from New York.
So we knew it was coming.
And the connection with New York City would be, would make it then very clear that it was coming because you have a fair amount of connection with New York City, right?
Correct.
I mean, a lot.
I mean, I've been to Korea as well.
How long a ride is it?
An hour.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a one hour ride and probably 45 minute ride today with the kind of traffic we have, right?
Right.
So, and many of the people come from New York City, right?
Originally?
Correct.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's a lot of interconnection between the two.
So, now you're certain it's going to come to your beautiful little community.
What are you thinking?
Brooklyn. Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of interconnection between the two.
So how did you how did you then now now you're pretty you're certain it's going
to come to your beautiful little community.
What are you thinking?
How are you planning? What?
What's there was nothing out there.
There was, you know, separate yourself, social distancing, proper washing your hands, and pray to God that you shouldn't get an infection.
Well, I'm curious, Joel, the third one you do all the time.
Right, that's true.
Right?
It's a religious community.
It's a beautiful community.
You pray to God all the time.
I do.
So, the only advice you had at first was wash your hands and stay six feet away from everybody, right?
Right.
And stay out of the ICU if you can.
and stay out of the ICU.
Go ahead, so then what happened?
So then I started seeing people getting sick and I didn't have any tools to treat them.
Well, so what did you see originally when you said, I started seeing people get sick?
What did you originally see, doctor?
I flew like symptoms, fever, cough, obviously.
Interestingly enough, not so much body aches.
A lot of headaches, runny nose, and diarrhea.
And what was interesting, the flu test was negative.
So you saw, would you regard those as fairly normal flu-like symptoms that you see every year?
Yeah, yes.
Anything unusual about them?
There's two slight distinctions, or three.
This virus seems to take away taste and smell, for some reason, in some people.
It takes away, for some people, the taste and smell.
Okay.
Taste and smell, yeah.
Taste and smell.
Okay.
Yes.
Causes diarrhea in some people, which the usual flu doesn't.
Causes diarrhea, which the usual flu doesn't.
Now, is that also true of taking away taste and smell?
Does the usual flu do that?
No.
Okay.
And also, the usual flu, when I say the usual flu, I mean influenza A or B virus, to be precise.
Right, and then there can also be all kinds of variations, right?
It's an enormously complicated and dangerous disease, correct?
The flu infected 40 million people last year, killed 50,000.
And this year, are you pretty certain it will kill more than COVID-19, or pretty close?
It affects different populations.
I think, well, I'll tell you the facts.
The coronavirus is three times more contagious.
The COVID-19 is three times more contagious.
And ten times more deadly.
And ten times more deadly.
And the flu is pretty darn contagious, right?
Right.
So if we had 40,000 cases last year, My prediction is that half the country will get it this year.
Half the country before the end of this year will contract it in some—in either the mild form or some form, right?
Correct.
Wow.
So, how did—what I'm really getting to is how did you come up with—you came up with a remedy.
How did that happen?
So I have very good connections in the New York City hospitals, and I was curious how they were treating the patients in the ICU who were intubated, who were very sick.
And so I heard about some studies from South Korea where they were using hydroxychloroquine, or the brand name is called Plaquenil, together with zinc vitamins.
And they were tests from South Korea, which had been done, I guess, recently, because they just got hit with this recently, right?
Do we do that?
And they publish reports of their treatment guidelines.
Do we do that?
We don't have any yet.
But I mean, but it sounds to me like they publish them a lot faster than we do.
Well, no, they had the disease before us.
Okay.
All right.
So they published reports of how they were treating it, and what they said was they were treating it with hydroxychloroquine.
Chloroquine.
Chloroquine.
And vitamin zinc.
And, and any, any, um, any kind of dosage, special dosage?
Um, yeah, they had, they had the, I can show you the literature.
There was different dose schedules.
Yes.
Okay, so, and what did it say?
Did it say it was successful, unsuccessful?
Somewhat successful.
Somewhat successful.
Did they give you numbers?
I don't recall offhand, but there are numbers, yeah.
But not too impressive.
Okay, so then what happened?
These were not too impressive, but were the New York doctors using this in the ICUs?
They were, and it was actually not the zinc.
Let me just say that France published a study that azithromycin or Zithromax antibiotic together with hydroxychloroquine seemed to be effective in killing the virus.
So this was a French, was it just like a general statement or was it a study?
It was a study.
A very famous study that everyone's referring to now.
Well known.
What were the numbers in that one, roughly?
100% resolution.
Whoa!
100% resolution?
Yeah, not in patients, in the lab.
What does that mean?
In laboratory studies.
In a test tube, basically.
Not in a living human being.
And do they have anything in... Any stats on living human beings?
I'm about to give you them.
Oh, thank you.
So currently in America, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are being used in many ICUs with some moderate success, mild to moderate success.
And the reason why is very simple.
When a patient is in the ICU, Most likely they're intubated from a condition called ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome, which is a completely different animal than the coronavirus.
It's a disease in itself.
It's basically the lungs are eviscerated and destroyed from within because of the body.
So let's go back over that just a little bit.
So if you're in the ICU, because it got really bad, You're probably going to be intubated at that point?
Probably, yes.
So most of them would be intubated to breathe, actually to breathe for them, right?
Because they're having trouble breathing.
And 4 to 5 out of 10 people will die.
So 30 to 40 percent of the people that go in there for that die.
40 to 50 percent.
So you get about a 50 percent.
And what is the name of the condition?
ARDS?
Yes.
Acute.
Respiratory distress syndrome.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome.
And I gather you've seen this, or doctors have, in other settings, right?
Coming about for other reasons, not just this, right?
Correct.
And I strongly recommend not getting this disease.
Given the numbers, 50-50, I would strongly suggest the same thing.
But how does the disease come about from the... So first you have the ordinary symptoms of novel coronavirus or COVID-19.
And then it becomes ARDS.
What happens?
How does it go from one to the other?
The virus infects the lung tissue.
The virus infects the lung tissue, okay.
And specifically, there's cells inside the lungs that make mucus and help clear debris.
So there are two types of cells, cilia and goblet cells.
And that's too technical.
But what happens is, it begins to wage war on that tissue.
And it's a race for time.
Because if there's a certain amount of damage, a certain threshold of damage, Think of it as a battlefield with dead corpses and bodies lying all over the place, and that biological debris begins to clog up the tissue and the functioning aspects of the lungs.
It's like pouring cement into the lungs.
So there is, in everyone's lungs, there are cells that protect the lungs by cleaning up debris, right?
Yeah.
Can you see me?
I want to show you something.
Yes, I can see you.
Can you see this picture?
Yes, I can see the picture.
This is a person.
This is the lungs.
And if you take a microscope or look really closely, this is what you see.
And these cilia, they help clear mucus and phlegm and all that stuff.
And these cells, the goblet cells, make the mucus.
And this protects the lungs.
So that's a healthy process.
The goblet cells make the mucus.
The other cells clean out the mucus.
And the mucus traps all the bacteria.
So when we think of mucus as being bad, it's actually, in many cases, good.
Right.
It clears the lung from debris.
That's the normal process for the lung.
Correct.
Now, what happens when COVID-19 is introduced into this?
Think of napalm or carpet bombing that tissue.
That's exactly what it is.
So it enters the lung.
It enters those cells.
And the cells And the COVID go to war.
It's actually different.
The virus, the way viruses work, they grow by stealing your resources.
They're real parasites.
They go inside the cell, hijack the machinery and the industry of the cell, and use it to replicate.
Now, so they get in the lungs, they attack these cells, right?
They go into the cell, yeah.
They actually go into the cell, and they try to destroy it?
By using its resources and growing.
Okay, but they turn it now into a dangerous cell.
Right.
And then it dies.
It kills the cell.
And if you multiply that by a few trillion, what happens is there's debris, corpse, dead bodies, so to speak, dead biological tissue that gets shed down instead of up.
Gotcha.
What?
I said, I got it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, that's an interesting... Cemented to the lungs.
Pouring cement into the lungs.
Pouring cement into the lungs.
So now what would fight that off?
So a person has an immune system that's a gift from God that is designed to push away external threats.
Right.
So that's why in most cases, people will recover because their immune systems are able to overcome the viral infection So, once you get to the stage, though, of being in the ICU and being intubated, so this war, this battle is going on, what you're telling me is you win that only about 50% of the times?
So, no matter what, you're going to be left with very, very weakened lungs.
Correct.
Damaged lungs.
Correct.
What percentage of your cases that you treated with Hydroxy and let's call it Z-Pak, what percentage of your patients ended up in that condition?
Zero.
How many patients have you treated so far?
Hundreds.
Hundreds?
Can you make it two hundreds, three hundreds, four hundreds?
By now it's closer to five to six hundred.
I lost count.
Five to six hundred patients.
Were you originally testing them?
I was.
And what kind of rate of positive were you coming up with?
59%.
59%?
So then you switched to you were going to treat the symptoms irregardless of what the test said, is that right?
Well, the problem was the test took three days to get back.
And that could be, particularly for a very, very difficult case, that could be a critical three days, right?
Yeah, that's the main point.
That we need to hit hard.
We need to hit this infection hard and early.
And the earlier you hit it, the better the success?
Even for a compromised person?
Especially in a compromised person.
My understanding is that a compromised person, it comes on faster and stronger.
Right.
So that first two or three days is much more critical for, let's say, an elderly person or an immunocompromised person.
Is that right?
That's very right.
Let me explain.
There's a high-risk group.
The high-risk group, statistically, are patients above the age of 60, patients that have chronic medical conditions, and or are immunosuppressed.
There's a, depending on which country you look at, there's between a 6 to 10 percent death rate.
Among that group?
Correct.
So, when did you first begin the hydroxy Z-Pak therapy.
And how much hydroxy do you give them and how much Z-Pak?
So first what I did was, I did two things.
I blended the two treatments from South Korea and France.
I made a three drug regimen.
Okay, and what was that?
Hydroxychloroquine, which was the common denominator by both treatments.
Then I used zinc and then I used azithromycin.
Azithromycin?
Yeah, you know that as azithromycin.
Yeah.
So, so you basically were taking all three that had been used and putting them together.
So how much, what, what milligrams of hydroxy?
I'll tell you my protocol in a minute, but would you be interested for the rationale behind the treatment?
Of course I would.
So it's well known that zinc... Doctor, I have to say you should be a professor.
You're a very good teacher.
Obviously, you're a good doctor, but you're explaining this in a way in which, I have to say, with all due respect, very few doctors could explain it as clearly as you are.
Thank you, Mr. President.
So it's one of your gifts.
You should know that, and thank you.
Thank you.
The truth is, I could have been a professor, but I really enjoy being on the front lines in clinical medicine.
I can see that.
I can see that.
So tell me the rationale for the hydroxy, the zinc, and the erythromycin.
Okay, so like we said before, the virus gets inside the cell and begins to hijack the cell's industrial complex, you know, it's machinery.
It's well known that zinc interrupts that.
You've probably heard of people who have colds, they take zinc.
I have.
Recently I had a cold, I mean like three months ago, and for the first time I took zinc and I found it very helpful.
Right, so the concept is that it interferes, it throws a monkey wrench into the replication of the virus.
Okay.
So, but the problem with zinc is that it does not get inside the cell very easily.
Because there's a biochemical reason for it, not that important right now.
So it has a hard time getting in.
If you just take the zinc, only some of it is going to get in, not all of it, right?
A very small percentage.
Very small percentage, okay.
Now what's interesting is hydroxychloroquine is an ionophore.
That's a fancy word for a channel, a canal.
That opens the door and allows the zinc to go from outside the cell to inside the cell.
So it opens the door for itself, and in doing that, the zinc can come in also?
No, no, it is the canal.
It is the canal?
It's the key that opens the canal.
Think of the Panama Canal and... But it's also its own medicine, right?
Yeah, but that's how it works.
Yes, I got it.
Okay, so it opens the canal, and then the zinc Then that facilitates the zinc coming in.
Right.
So then you get the real benefit of the zinc.
Right.
Wow.
Well, how did you figure that out?
I did the research.
I looked at the studies.
I was, I was curious how things work.
I'm like, I like to put puzzles together.
So.
Oh, God bless you.
Uh, and then, so, so now tell me the theory of the erythromycin, the Z-Pak.
Well, we don't know, but I have my theory, which is that when you have severe viral infections, it's well known that you can get a secondary bacterial opportunity, secondary infection.
So I believe the Zithromax is there as a precaution, and if there begins a bacterial process, it kills it or it causes a bigger problem.
But it doesn't actually, specifically, deal with the COVID-19?
Not enough data to answer that.
But it could.
I don't think so, but... Oh, you don't think so?
I mean, some doctors have thought that... It's an antibiotic in concept.
I know, and it would not make sense, but... We don't know, but it seems to work.
So, as long as it works, that's all I care about for now.
Okay, so now how, just give us a sort of overview.
What's the situation in the community now?
How long have you been treating this?
Since last Tuesday.
You began treating it last Tuesday?
Yes.
So, what's the, you've treated hundreds?
Yes.
You've had, well give me the results.
They're your results, you should be the one to put them out.
What are your results, doctor?
I'm about to publish those outcomes.
I've had zero patients die.
Zero die?
Zero patients intubated.
Yep.
And I have currently three patients admitted in the hospital with pneumonia.
But they are not intubated and I think they'll be fine.
And this is after treating... Hundreds.
Could you just give me sort of...
The best approximation of hundreds?
Five?
A hundred?
I think 450, 500, something like that.
450 to 500.
Are you treating people right now as we speak?
Yes.
Is the number declining or increasing?
Increasing.
Actually, because I'm the only doctor that seems to be doing it, or one of the first, and if not the first.
And so when this became public, the whole world started calling me.
So are you going beyond now treating people in Curious Joel?
Yes.
So a third are from outside the community.
Were they all furious, Joel, or were they people that might have come in just to visit
you after they heard about it?
So a third are from outside the community.
About a third.
And those are people who heard about it through word of mouth or whatever, right?
Yes.
The people that are being treated, are some of them still suffering from very difficult
I mean, is there a gradation of what you're seeing from very serious symptoms to very minor symptoms?
Yeah.
Well, I don't treat people with minor symptoms unless they're extremely high risk.
Can I give you my parameters?
Of course.
That's what we want.
Yep.
And this is to the American people.
If you're young and healthy, you'll be fine.
The parameters are, if you're young and healthy, you'll be fine.
Your immune system is strong enough.
Statistically, it's been proven you will recover.
You may be miserable for two weeks, but you will recover.
You'll be fine.
Your immune system all by itself, unaided by anything, will defeat the COVID?
Statistically, that's been the case, yes.
Would you prescribe something for these young people to help them with that?
At this point, I don't because the medication is not a candy.
It doesn't have side effects.
So I have to have a good reason.
You know, everything in life is a risk versus a benefit analysis.
Have you varied that with any of the young people so that you did treat them?
Yeah.
Well, there are young people that have illnesses.
Well, of course.
So if a young person has compromises to their immune system.
Yeah, sure.
They're going to be almost in the same situation as an older person.
Exactly.
That's a different, that's why I said young and healthy.
I define young less than 60.
Pardon me?
When I say young, I mean less than 60 years old.
Okay.
Okay.
Less than 60.
And have you had any of those?
Less than 60.
No other problems.
Have you had to give medicine to any of those?
Because the symptoms were so bad.
I have.
People were begging.
And in clinical medicine, sometimes You know, you have to make exceptions.
Of course, right.
But you're quite convinced that in the vast majority of cases, these people are going to win the battle based on their immune system.
That's a well-established fact.
Okay.
So now, go on.
The rest of the protocol.
So now you have the... So, anyone who has shortness of breath, regardless of their situation, I'll treat, because that's a dangerous symptom.
So even for a young person, if they have shortness of breath, you're going to go right to the... I'm going to hit them hard.
You're going to hit them hard.
You're going to hit them hard with the Hydro, with the Z-Pak, and with the Zinc.
The Z-Pak is a dose schedule.
It's five.
It's like five pills, right?
Right.
I use a different regimen.
Let's refer to it as Zithromax or Azithromyza.
Zithromax.
And what do you give them of Zithromax?
500 milligrams.
One pill a day for five days.
And then what about the hydroxyquinolone?
How much of that do you give?
I use hydroxychloroquine.
Chloroquine?
Chloroquine.
200 milligrams twice a day for five days.
That is a slightly lower dose than what is being used in the ICU.
In the ICU, the first day they use 400 milligrams twice a day.
And then they go to 200 milligrams twice a day.
What I do in the outpatient setting is use the lower dose of 200 twice a day from the very beginning.
For now.
Why do you do that?
Because it's, you know, this is the art of medicine.
We want to have maximum benefit with minimum side effects.
So I thought that since these patients are not critically ill, it's reasonable to use more moderate dosing.
Would you change that if you saw very serious symptoms?
I'm actually, you know, this is all... Mr. Mayor, you have to know that this is all new, and I'm developing this stuff as I go along.
It's like battlefield medicine.
I'm giving you a report from the front line.
And I really appreciate this, that you're doing this.
You're really helping a lot of people.
But I guess the question was, are there any times you vary that 200 mg?
Yes.
I'm beginning to vary that.
Well, I haven't yet, but I want to vary it in the older population that are sick.
Sicker because I think they need to be hit harder to prevent them from going to the hospital.
And the zinc, is there any dosage of that that you would?
I use 220 milligrams.
And how often?
Once a day.
For five days also?
For five days.
So after five days, do they come back to see you and you see what kind of condition they're in?
So first of all, I'm practicing medicine remotely.
I have some medical issues myself, so my doctor doesn't let me I have to be quarantined myself, but so I'm practicing via FaceTime or whatever, and I have a whole team of PAs and nurses, and they're acting, you know, they're seeing patients with me and carrying out my orders.
So if you were to, let's say you were to examine me, you would do it with like a telemedicine, that's why you're so familiar with being on the FaceTime.
You're right.
You're on there all day.
Yes.
So you look at me.
I describe my symptoms to you.
I send you my vital statistics.
Well, actually, my nurse does.
So your nurse will visit with me while I'm talking to you.
Yes.
And then you'll go through all the things.
And now you determine that I have some symptoms.
I'm 75 years old.
So you then prescribe for me what's called the regimen, right?
Yes.
I call it the cocktail.
The cocktail.
That's good.
And then I have the cocktail five days and then I get back to you and I say I'm feeling better.
That's good, right?
I also have my office follow-up.
I mean, since this is all experimental, I try to keep a close follow-up on these patients to make sure that they're... So in that five-day period, do you follow up on them and see how things are working?
Yes.
And then is the five-day period at the end of it, is it sort of the telling point where you either see improvement, no improvement?
So, let me define success in this case.
Not to die.
Wow.
That's how I'm defining... Okay, so we're into the five-day period now.
I call you back and I tell you, Doctor, I don't feel any better.
I said, well, because you're talking to me and you don't have a pike in your throat, that's a good sign.
And you give him nothing else after that?
Depends, you know.
Might you give them more?
I could.
Can I get a few more cocktails, doctor?
A few more.
I just need a few more cocktails, doctor.
I know what you mean.
But I have only in a few patients.
Most of them have responded extremely well.
So how long now, what's the longest streak you have with a patient so far?
I don't understand.
How many days, how many days your first patient?
Tuesday, it was last Tuesday.
So last Tuesday, so we're talking about eight, basically eight days, seven or eight days.
Right?
Let me give you some statistics.
And that's a critical period, I might add, right?
Basically, am I correct that if you're elderly, and you're gonna get hit hard with this, it happens within that first two to five days, right?
That's correct, and it's vicious.
And very, very few situations, if you get through those first two to five days with no symptoms, and there's no intervening infection, you're probably okay.
Correct.
And by the way, it's not going to take away your fever.
You're still going to be coughing.
You're still going to be tired.
You're going to have a headache.
You're going to be upset.
You're going to call me.
It's not working.
But I'm looking at it differently.
If you can call me, that's a good sign.
So what you're saying is this cocktail really cures the illness.
It doesn't relieve the symptoms.
Well, let me tell you what I believe it does.
Reduces the amount of virus that the body is infected with by interfering with its growth, giving the immune system time to overcome it before it destroys the lungs.
Well, doctor, is there, um, we're going to keep, you know, we're going to keep calling you and talking to you because, you know, as this moves out, now you're what?
Seven days, seven days into it, right?
Seven, eight days?
Tuesday?
What's today?
Today's Thursday, no?
So it's nine days.
So you're nine days into it.
That's a good number, particularly for the ones that are affected very, very seriously, because it happens quickly.
I saw some statistics that says if you're going to die, you're going to die in about five days.
Correct.
I mean, it's very quick.
It works very quick.
And here's the biggest problem, Mr. Mayor.
We're running out of capacity to treat patients inside the hospital.
Well, so what do you need for that?
You need more hospital?
You need to stay out of the hospital.
That's what you need to do.
I know.
It seems to me you're very much goal-oriented.
Goal number one... Don't die.
Don't die.
Goal number two, stay out of the hospital, and if you stay out of the hospital... Don't get intubated.
Yeah, if you stay out of the hospital, you're not gonna die.
I love your approach, doctor.
Is there anything else that you want to convey to us now, you know, for our benefit?
Because I certainly, if you don't mind, I'm gonna keep checking back with you and seeing how this is going as an encouragement to others, okay?
Many doctors are coming on board.
They are having similar results.
I beg and plead First of all, I want to thank the President.
You know, we have to keep America healthy again.
So, make America healthy again.
And I want to thank the President for approving the use of this drug.
That was a rather gutsy thing for him to do.
He said he had a good feeling about it.
And the truth is, He's very intuitive, and I have the same intuition.
I really feel that this is the answer.
And let me tell you, I think if you scale this nationally, the economy will rebound much quicker.
The country will be open again.
And let me tell you a very important point.
This treatment costs $20.
Wait, wait, wait.
The treatment?
So, the actual cost of the medicine is $20?
Yeah, and that's very important because you can scale that nationally.
You know, if every treatment costs $20,000, that's not so good.
That's for the five days of these pills?
Because they're old pills.
All I'm doing is repurposing old available drugs, which we know, and we know their safety profiles, using them in a unique combination in the outpatient setting.
This is a $20 treatment?
Yes.
And with medicines that have been used forever?
Yes.
And we know the side effects of the medicine.
Yes.
What's the worst side effect you have to deal with here?
You said with young people you're a little hesitant because it's not cost-free in terms of side effects.
Right.
There's a concern of heart rhythm problems.
From the hydroxy?
Yeah.
Although none of my colleagues have ever seen it.
And the zithromax together.
Any others?
No, minor stuff.
Let me tell you something.
If there's a 1 in 10,000 chance of having a heart arrhythmia, but there's a 6% chance of dying from the virus— Of course.
Well, that's why the president's decision was so— It's a no-brainer.
—was so logical, but because we're sort of— There's a tyranny of, you must follow the process.
But we're going to get through this, doctor.
And we're going to get through it because of people like you and your community.
Great Americans, and you just keep thinking of solutions, thinking of solutions, just like the president.
You know, you don't sit there and just be a victim.
You try to figure out, how are we going to fight back?
If we scale this nationally, this will significantly improve the situation.
Well, I will get that message out for you, doctor, and I'll be in touch with you regularly.
And you have no idea how much I admire what you're doing, and you also should know, and please pass on, how much I admire your community.
They're really wonderful people.
When I was mayor, I was very, very close to the Hasidic community in New York.
I know the rabbis, I know it well.
I consider them one of the great contributors to New York in so many ways.
And I'm so glad they have a doctor like you taking care of them.
They deserve it.
They're good people.
Thank you.
Thank you, doctor.
And we will keep on this topic because people are very concerned, quite rightly, that this is going to continue and get worse.
And let's pray to God that it doesn't.
But then let's also pray to God that we have the strength, and I think we do, to get ourselves through it even in better condition than we were before.
Thank you very much.
▲
Export Selection