Betsy McCaughey, PhD. a former lieutenant governor of New York, is chairwoman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and Dr. Pete Constantino, Director: New York Head & Neck Institute, are here to discuss the latest on COVID-19 and the information that can help all of us now to prevent the spread. Also, what can you do to help treat the symptoms, reports are coming now that acetaminophen is working better and is safer than ibuprofen for fevers with COVID-19.The Sean Hannity Show is on weekdays from 3 pm to 6 pm ET on iHeartRadio and Hannity.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Americans helping to protect other Americans and the, well, reduce contact with people.
Let's call it that.
Anyway, glad you're with us.
A lot of news to get to today.
A lot of it really, really good news.
Here is the first indication.
Where do Americans stand on the issue of the travel ban?
You just heard Dr. Quid Pro quote Joe say the president, he said this January 31st, the day that the president implemented the travel ban, 10 days after the first known case of coronavirus in the U.S.
That was January 21st.
10 days later, January 31st, travel ban, quarantine, Donald Trump, Joe Biden saying it was hysterical xenophobia and fear-mongering.
Anyway, we're now finding new polling information that a vast majority of Americans support the president's actions here.
Three polls out now that show that the president has approval and how he's supporting it.
Rasmussen, 80% of American adults agree with the federal government's decision to temporarily ban travelers from China and then nearly all European countries after.
Now, the interesting thing about that, even 78% of Democrats agreed this was not the administration.
This was Donald Trump's decision.
Everybody in the room told them, oh, it's not needed.
It is not necessary.
Interesting.
So 70% think their schools in their state should be closed.
And by the way, the president encouraged Americans to engage in schooling from home for the time being.
And let's see, when asked which is closer to their own thinking, 64% of Americans say the numerous event closures, postponements, and response to corona are good thinking.
26%, however, view them as panicked overreaction.
10% they're not sure.
And Rasmussen found that a plurality of U.S. voters believe China should pay at least some of the financial costs associated with the virus, 42%.
36% disagreeing, 27% uncertain.
42% finding the media's coverage to be excellent or good.
21% fair, 32% poor.
Clear divide there.
And what's interesting about it is Republicans were more likely to have negative views of the current coverage because what did they do in the beginning?
Just blame Trump and blame Trump constantly.
And anyway, but the numbers are pretty interesting across the board.
There's no doubt we'll look back in history and we're going to find three separate things, at least for now.
And I think a fourth one is emerging, and that is with the president's announcement today as it relates to treatment of corona, three separate venues that are going to attack this and that we now have no hope that we didn't have yesterday.
And I think the top part of this has to be that the president now instituting the travel ban that was hysterical, xenophobia, and fear-mongering, according to Joe.
Yeah, that will happen more quickly in any future pandemic.
I think number two, drive up testing.
And I know it's not up and running everywhere yet, but they're kicking down doors trying to get this up and running.
I've now seen enough videos.
It's now unfolding across the country, thank goodness.
I think moving forward, we have this telemedical service that would be available 24-7, which would be great for every American.
You know, your kid is sick late at night.
You call a doctor on call, available, say, hey, I just took my son, my daughter's temperature.
They're showing these symptoms.
How would you recommend I treat it?
And maybe you come in, maybe you don't come in based on what the doctor tells you from that position.
I could see an easy reduction of at least a third of emergency room visits of the American people.
That's going to be big.
And I think what the president did today with his press conference with the FDA is this is groundbreaking also.
They're now clearing the way at the FDA to expand the types of medicine treatments available during this pandemic.
That had never been done before.
Early trials have begun for a prospective coronavirus vaccine.
Now, they were able to break down the structure of this virus quicker than ever before in history.
It used to take years.
They did it in less than two months.
That is an amazing advancement.
And that means you can work on some type of vaccine headed down the road, which is good.
President at the White House saying that he'd support the prospect of government taking an equity stake in companies as part of a stimulus of the economy.
We'll have to see what that ultimately means.
But as for the FDA Fast Track, their officials say they want to expand treatments available during the pandemic in a way that is both fast and responsible.
There are three specific treatments that they have mentioned.
One is chloroquine or chloroquin, depending on how you pronounce it, convalescent plasma, and what is an RNA inhibitor that was used for Ebola and SARS.
It's called remdisivir.
And, you know, this also goes to the president's decision on a right to try.
Now, I went into great detail, especially in chloroquin, because chloroquin, in particular, used for malaria, has shown pretty promising results.
I mean, really promising results.
Actually, I got a map and I'll show it on TV, but wherever malaria is not, you see COVID-19, the coronavirus.
Well, where malaria is not is because they are using this drug that I just mentioned to you, chloroquin.
That's the reason.
That is the only difference.
And now we've seen both in China, South Korea, France has done enough studies.
Now we're seeing that, in fact, they are seeing dramatic results.
I went over the specifics of this yesterday.
I'll go over them again today so you fully understand exactly what they're talking about.
Stephen Hahn is the commissioner of the FDA.
He said he wanted to assure the American people that the agency would go as fast as they possibly can to broaden access to new medicines and treatments and that it remained, you know, they remain bound by their mission to ensure that they're safe.
The good thing is that, for example, chloroquine has been out since the 40s to battle against malaria and do so successfully.
So we know the potential side effects and we know the doses that tend to kick in those side effects, the doses that have been viewed as successful in the treatment or even prevention, almost acting, serving as a prophylactic, that we now know that the danger levels, for example, it could impact vision and sight, but only at high doses.
But at the right dose, it doesn't seem to have any negative impacts at all.
No other side effects that are known that I was reading today.
And anyway, so this is all good stuff in terms of as we now await with the testing that's going on, the increase in the number of instances, people that have contracted the virus, et cetera, et cetera.
Let me go through the news that you need to know.
I want to give you the facts without fear because I know that there are people that are just, and we spent a lot of time on this yesterday, bludgeoning this into a political issue like they have from the beginning.
Trump virus.
If you're feeling awful, you know who to blame.
Trump's Katrina.
Trump's Chernobyl.
This is like in the earliest days.
The first day we reported this on this program was January 28th.
And that day, Linda, I went into specificity where they were talking about people asymptomatic carrying this virus and passing it on because it seemed to be passed on.
It was seemingly aerosol airborne.
We knew that day, I said, uh-oh, we've got a problem.
And then, when I first had Dr. Anthony Fauci on, it was February 10th.
And we went into great detail of the dangers then, but always expressing hope that our medical experts in this program, our medical researchers, our doctors, frontline healthcare professionals, scientists, that they always get the job done.
And for our audience, Sean, if you'd like to go to Hannity.com, we have a timeline of Sean's comments, who he was talking to, the corresponding articles.
So, oh, yeah, the media says I've changed my tone.
I've been saying, you better pay attention to this.
So, you've had one January 28th.
You've had one tone.
It's called Get Information.
I had two tones.
The other one is those people that were saying, Trump virus, if you're feeling awful, blame Trump.
Yeah, I had a tone for them too.
Because as usual, you know, they wanted this, oh, okay, Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine.
Now let's make it virus, virus.
Impeach, impeach.
It's the same.
And there's a great article.
I got to give a shout out.
I wish I had time.
It's an 11-minute read.
Nick Nulty's comment on Breitbart.
I'm sorry, John Nolte, not Nick Nolte.
Sorry.
He's an actor.
I don't think that's a Joe Biden moment.
What can I tell you?
John Nolte, I've got to write it down.
John Nolte.
Remember, note to self.
The establishment media's coronavirus lies.
They're so deep.
They're so profound.
And then they turn around and they have shows like this weekend, Joy Reed and some others on Fake News CNN.
You know, Joe Lockhart, of all people, the dumbest press secretary in the history of this country, suggesting, well, this is all done.
We've got to look at Fox.
MSDNC actually suggesting Fox News has killed so many people over the many, many years.
What are these people talking about?
It's so reckless.
And they get away with the media mob.
They never fact check each other.
They just want to bludgeon people.
And, you know, the worst thing they do is they take things.
I remember the one day in passing, somebody hands me, texts me this tweet of this guy from MIT who says, huh, might be a deep state thing.
And I'm reading it, you know, having not even previewed it.
I read, huh, who knows?
I say the words, who knows?
That becomes the quote of all my coverage.
That's how corrupt they are.
Not saying, uh-oh, I was banging alarm bells from the beginning, but I don't preach panic.
I don't preach hysteria.
If you really want to solve problems in life, you've got to calmly stand back, strategically think of solutions.
That's the way I approach life.
If you get into freakout mode, you're not thinking at your best.
And I suggested all of that at the time.
We do have some news, time.com, reporting that a home-based corona testing kit could be available to every single American with appropriate systems, symptoms as early as next week.
That would be big.
Anyway, home testing company that offers dozens of lab tests to consumers.
They're adding COVID-19 testing beginning March the 23rd.
That's great progress.
You got to give credit to all these people that do all these things.
Like, for example, you can test your diabetes at home, your blood pressure at home.
If you get one of those machines, your blood sugar at home, you could test, for example, you think your kids might be using drugs.
They got to test for every drug on the market.
You can test them, drug test them, which I think is a good thing.
This way, if you do it and your kids say, you don't trust me, and you just say, no, trust, but verify.
Guess what?
If the fear of a test might keep them from one day doing something really stupid.
Anyway, some of the news is there is the U.S. government preparing for a pandemic.
There is a 100-page federal plan.
Now, don't take this the wrong way.
Just put it in the back of your mind, knowing that they're thinking long-term.
They're thinking worst case scenario that it would show the Trump administration is making contingency plans.
Should this stretch on longer than we're thinking it will today, 18 months or longer.
That what if there are multiple waves of illness?
That to me means, oh, they're doing their job.
They're thinking ahead.
I like it.
We do have some bad news, though, and we've got some data in.
Up till really today, I had not seen, except for a report in Great Britain, maybe one or two.
And one or two doctors that were writing articles warning people that it is not just older people that are being impacted by this, that they had seen examples of some younger people.
Now we're finding out in the United States.
Now, remember, it might have something to do with the fact that viruses tend to mutate.
I don't know if that happened here.
I'm just my own theory working in my head because we had not seen this in South Korea.
We had not seen this in China.
We had not seen this in other parts of the world.
We're now beginning to see some younger people.
We have young adults 20 to 44, 20% of people hospitalized within that age group, according to a brand new federal study.
That's nearly 9,000 Americans tested positive for the virus.
The other thing that we're seeing is, okay, so that's 20%.
And then 18% between 45 and 54 being hospitalized of those percentage of people that show up positive.
That had not happened before.
Still the highest percentage of hospitalized patients remain in the 65-plus age group bracket, if you will.
But we know in the 121 patients to have been admitted to ICU, most of them were older.
Nobody below 19, apparently, underage, no ICU admissions.
I'm making very significant distinctions here.
All right, 800-941-Sean, we're going to get into these three separate now FDA fast tracks that are showing a lot of promise.
One is convalescent plasma, and I'll explain what that is.
Chloroquin, which is the one, the malaria drug that everyone's really been talking the most about.
Rendisivir, which is an RNA inhibitor they used on Ebola and SARS.
That's showing some promising results as well as part of a treatment or prophylactic even to prevent people from getting corona.
All right, glad you're with us.
All right, just worldwide numbers.
Those that have contracted the virus, 236,384, 9,790 deaths.
U.S. total confirmed cases, 11,238.
Total deaths, 157.
Perspective.
60.8 million Americans got, if I'm Joe Biden, N1H1, H1N1.
We had 60.8 million Americans.
Worldwide, we lost as many as 575,000 people.
In a year in the U.S., we lost 12,469 people that died.
We had hundreds of thousands of Americans hospitalized in the last pandemic.
Why am I saying that?
And I'm not, this isn't political.
This is Facts Without Fear segment.
This is it.
That's what's happening.
We have another thing that apparently, again, this is new to all of this that we first began to see a little bit in Great Britain.
There was one doctor there that was saying, hey, it's not just older people with compromised immune systems.
We're seeing with babies and preschoolers also a high risk for developing some symptoms when affected with Corona.
The percentage of severe cases, very, very small that are being reviewed.
So we've got to watch that closely.
That could be some type of variation that has taken place here with the virus.
Oh, we're going to do something today we have not done before, and that is we're going to have an ask the doctor segment.
We can call in and ask your questions that you might have about corona.
All right, quick break.
I'm going to give you the three treatment options discussed by the president and the FDA today when we come back.
All right, 25 till the top of the hour.
Congresswoman Omar praising Donald Trump for his incredible and right response in this critical time.
That's what she said.
I was pretty shocked and went on to quote another Congresswoman, Presley, is saying unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership.
We're seeing that in our country right now.
Okay, maybe there's hope.
I never thought it was possible.
Baltimore mayor urging residents to stop shooting each other as the coronavirus spreads.
How about we have that all the time?
I'm a little concerned about police departments telegraphing, oh, we're not going to arrest you if you commit crimes.
That would be a license to commit crimes.
Dumb idea.
ISIS saying they will not arrest most undocumented immigrants during the pandemic.
I'm not sure that's a good idea.
They're talking about Rikers.
I would guess they have one positive test for corona now allowing large numbers of inmates out.
That's being talked about actually around the country and other places as well.
Then we have, let's see, major hotel executive of Ashford Inc.
I've cut 95% of my staff.
These are the people that we need to help.
We'll check in, by the way, Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader in the House, will join us later today.
Elon Musk now has followed up with what the offer the GM has offered.
This is how great some of these corporations are.
You got to give them full credit.
They're all on board.
They're all doing amazing things to manufacture hospital ventilators amid the coronavirus outbreak.
That would be great, great news.
We have Larry Kudlow, who is the White House economic advisor, describing an identified unidentified automaker's offer to call back workers, idle plants, make medical devices needed to treat the critically ill.
I think that's a great idea.
I know we have now have the floating hospitals, one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast.
Great idea.
Great use of America's resources.
And knowing that we're going to be bailing out the cruise lines, I would suggest that we might want to start the process of preparing maybe a couple of those ships to be turned into hospitals if, in fact, it would be needed.
You always want to think about worst case scenarios for everything.
Congressman Mario Diaz-Bellart, Ben McAdams, the first lawmakers to announce testing positive for corona.
An entire Georgia Senate told to self-isolate because a lawmaker there with coronavirus turned up to vote.
I'm shaking with rage, was the comment of a fellow colleague.
A woman flies.
I mean, people lose their minds when these things happen.
She flew from the U.S. to China for a coronavirus test.
Now she might be put in prison for concealing her symptoms while traveling.
Great.
Oh, then we got, of course, Nevada Trumper, that idiot Rick Wilson, whoever his name is, the founder of the Lincoln Project.
Yeah, he told Melania Trump, quote, hashtag be infected.
Really?
After the first lady announced that she would be in PSAs about coronavirus.
Hashtag be infected.
Oh, that's so helpful.
Isn't it nice when everybody steps up to the plate and they do wonderful things?
California residents now calling the cops.
New York Post had a story on coughing neighbors.
New Jersey police raided two weddings to enforce the coronavirus restrictions.
That just happened.
Weekly jobless claims, this is the early stages of this, is now up by 70,000.
Jobless claims rose to 281,000 last week, reflecting the first indications of the impact economically in the unemployment situation.
Trump ordered the Department of Housing and Urban Development to suspend any foreclosure.
Let's see.
Baltimore's mayor also warning shooting victims of filling hospital beds that are needed for coronavirus patients.
Now, Governor Rick DeSantis and Senator Rick Scott have put an end to this insanity of all these Florida spring breakers that didn't seem to give a rip about people that might end that they may end up impacting.
Not a good idea.
So that's some of the news that we have here.
I want to focus here on a couple of things.
I want to start with a lot has happened.
We have made more progress more quickly than I think anyone ever could have imagined.
And most importantly, we have made progress that will be game-changing for future pandemics.
Drive up testing.
One example: travel ban.
Yeah, we'll put it in place sooner rather than later.
Now you see the federal government cooperating partnerships with the private industry.
That, again, game-changing.
Now we've got what happened today.
I'm going to go into some details over this.
This is really impactful and important for the American people as we move forward because we can always learn to deal better with any other challenges that we might have down the road.
Because you want to keep Americans healthy.
That is what we do.
The coronavirus response has been comprehensive on every single level in ways that will help us in the future.
That includes, for example, the president now, key decisions about closing the border with Canada, Mexico, the Defense Production Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, stopping foreclosures, the Department of Labor, $100 million dislocated worker grants, White House working with the private sector to launch these websites.
And it goes on and on.
It's a whole of government response, including the travel restrictions, including expanding testing accessibility, including helping impacted businesses, helping families and American workers.
So the only thing I ask Washington is don't waste our money alarming the public and informing the public.
These daily press conferences I'm paying attention to.
If you want more information, you can always go to coronavirus.gov.
The task force has been available every single day to everybody in the media and the American people.
And we'll get to watch and watch these questions asked and see if they are solving the problems that pop up.
This is a whole-on government response.
It's really they're starting from scratch here in terms of none of this was ever needed before, and they seem to be rising to the occasion, supporting patients, healthcare providers, preparing for worst-case scenarios, strengthening essential medical supplies and production and developing vaccines and therapies that are going to be available to everybody.
Now, this is where we get into the more complicated part of the show.
And I don't want to get into the weeds, into an area of things that it just gets complicated.
And I felt as I was trying to explain chloroquin yesterday, which is the malaria drug that has been effective.
I didn't think I did the best job possible.
I'm going to try to do better.
Convalescent plasma is plasma, rather, is another treatment.
For example, some people that maybe have been in contact with the virus, they have plasma, blood plasma, that could be used as a means for testing and also as a therapy and also potentially even as an ultimate cure for people.
We have an RNA inhibitor that was used for Ebola and SARS.
Remdisivir is the name of that drug.
They're all FDA approved.
The one that is getting the most attention, though, is the one that I was discussing in detail yesterday.
And I think this gets very, very interesting in terms of what possibilities might exist because everything I've read all day today, and that's all I've been doing, is immersing myself in the science and evidence of this is all very and extremely promising.
Again, three separate, well, we have two drugs that the president spoke about today, chloroquine and remdisivir.
Those are the two drugs that have shown that, hey, they have crossover potential that are helping and showing positive signs for both as a prophylactic prevention measure to prevent you from getting coronavirus.
And number two, to help you treat this and get better more quickly.
And the president said, I've directed the FDA to eliminate the rules and bureaucracy so work can proceed rapidly, quickly, and fast.
He said we have to remove every barrier.
He announced earlier today that chloroquin, again, we've had this drug around since 1945, FDA approved, will be made available by prescription almost immediately.
He said it was one of the number of antiviral therapies that will limit the symptoms of the virus that the administration is trying to get a trying to get to Americans as quickly as possible.
He said, as it relates to this other drug, that would also be made available to Americans, as well as a process of compassionate use, which then goes back to the right to try, which I always thought was an amazing idea of the president.
And he laid all of that out in the press conference with the head of the FDA earlier today.
So let me just explain.
So with slashing the red tape, they're making a lot of progress on therapeutics.
Nothing's going to stand in the way.
This drug chloroquine that he's talked about, or hydroxychloroquine, maybe more officially as it's known, is shown to be very encouraging.
Some early results.
And we're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.
There are promising therapies that are being produced.
And then it gets into the issue of redisivir.
And the president talked at length about that.
That's a drug used for other purposes that has been out.
Let me give you one good sign that I saw.
There is a map.
I'll show it on TV tonight.
Wherever there is malaria where they've been using this medicine, which is chloroquin, they're finding COVID-19 does not exist.
That is huge.
All right.
So what does that mean?
Dr. Fauci had discussed this.
Now, there's a guy that was on Laura's program last night, Dr. Gregory Regano.
He is the author of a study discussing the latest findings that the first trial vaccine for coronavirus, that is also in the works separately and apart from this.
But anyway, he discussed hydroxychloroquine and that they were found free of disease in six days.
The patients were testing negative for coronavirus, in other words, in six days.
He also said that taking chloroquin could act as a preventative, prophylactic, if you prefer that word.
I know that everyone loves different words.
But in other words, an effective treatment.
Now, this is where I'm going to get into the weeds.
Stick with me.
Now, this is a study that was presented in consultation, Stanford University School of Medicine, UAB School of Medicine, National Academy of Science Researchers.
Nature had some good information on it as well.
And the summary is recent guidelines.
This is information from South Korea, China reporting that chloroquin is an effective antiviral therapeutic treatment against coronavirus disease 2019.
That would be this coronavirus.
And what they're showing is the use of chloroquine in tablets.
They also apparently are, I have an IV version that works even faster, showing favorable outcomes in humans infected with coronavirus, including faster time to recovery, shorter hospital stays.
And it's showing that chloroquine has also a strong potential as a, that word again, prophylactic, preventative measure against coronavirus in the lab while we wait for the vaccine to be developed.
This is huge.
If this is what everybody's saying this is, this means a lot of lives are going to be saved.
That would be great.
Now, this drug has been widespread human use since 1945 against malaria, autoimmune, and various other conditions.
Now, what they found in South Korea and China, they have significantly more exposure.
They've had more time to analyze and do diagnostics and treatment and preventative options.
And we're behind them, according to the FDA commissioner.
and board member of Pfizer, this guy named Scott Gottlieb.
The world can learn the most about COVID-19 by paying attention to the response of the countries that had the most significant exposure before the U.S. and Europe.
And as per the U.S., CDC, chloroquine is an anti-malaria medicine.
It's available in the U.S., prescription only, prescribed for either prevention or treatment of malaria, can be prescribed to adults and all children, can also be safely taken, it says, by pregnant women, nursing mothers.
CDC research shows chloroquine can affect virus infection in many ways, and the antiviral effect depends in part on the extent to which the virus utilizes endosomes for entry.
Chloroquin has been widely used to treat human diseases like malaria and others and HIV and autoimmune very successfully, quote, without significant detrimental side effects.
Dosage has more impact on that.
It could impact eyesight and blindness, but at very high doses, not at the doses they're talking about in these studies.
Now, they had the Korea Biomedical Review.
I trust them, South Korea, more than the information from China, just last month, and composed of physicians and experts treating the patients there that have corona.
And China, too, they had their own testing there.
According to the research data, clinical trials arena, data from the drug chloroquin shows certain curative effect were fairly good in terms of working on patients that were treated with chloroquin, demonstrating a better drop in fever, improvement of lung CT images, and required a shorter time to recover compared to parallel groups.
The percentage of patients with negative viral nucleic acid tests was also higher with the anti-malarial drug.
Chloroquin has so far shown no obvious or serious adverse reactions in the participants in the trial.
Now, the treatment from South Korea gives the guidelines if patients are old, underlying conditions, serious symptoms.
They advise that physicians should consider the antiviral treatment.
In other words, those that are most vulnerable, they're saying you may want to use this as soon as possible.
And that would save lives.
Anyway, the treatment guidelines are very similar out of China, although I trust their information less.
By the way, we have a lot to discuss about China today.
They've lost their minds.
South Korea guidelines, notably other antivirals, HIV drugs, et cetera, are listed as further lines of defense.
According to research, CDC, chloroin does have these strong antiviral effects on SARS.
Now, SARS was a coronavirus, both prophylactically and therapeutically.
And SARS corona had significant similarities to COVID-19.
We have identified chloroquin as an effective antiviral agent for SARS and corona in cell culture conditions.
All signs are, let's put it this way.
If I had it personally, I'm speaking only for Sean Hannity, I'd be all over this.
That's my own personal point of view.
All right, hour to Sean Hannity show.
Glad you're with us.
Toll-free, 800-941.
Sean, you want to be a part of the program?
It is 229 days till you, the American people, the ultimate jury, you get to decide.
A lot of issues on the table.
We are now worldwide 236,420 that have contracted corona.
Now, by the way, this number of deaths, we don't want any deaths, but it does include those in China and Italy and Iran, we believe, 9,790.
In the U.S., 11,274 have contracted the virus, confirmed now.
The number we expect to rise dramatically the next few weeks as testing is expanded out also in bigger numbers.
157 Americans have died.
To offer some perspective, let's just go back to the now.
Hang on a second.
My daughter just walked in.
Come on.
Come on here.
Now, why don't you say hello?
MK.
MK.
Hurry.
Say hi to everybody.
Hi.
What's going on?
Not much.
Okay.
So once a day or every other day, my daughter, you're 18, right?
Yes.
18 years old.
Okay.
You and your friends, what do you say?
Mr. Hannity, Mr. Hannity, what do you say?
You asked me questions about what?
The coronavirus.
Right.
And on a scale of one to 10, how freaked out are you?
10.
And all your friends are.
10.
And every day I get the same questions.
Are we going to die?
No, you know, just used social distancing.
Right now, we're not using social distancing.
You're very close to me using the same microphone and Purel.
And if you want gloves and masks.
But you know, there is something good about this.
Every boy in the world, 14 through, you know, whatever, guess what?
They all have germs.
That's a good thing.
Linda, right?
That's a great thing.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
MK.
Listen to everything your father says on this.
Yeah, listen to everything your father says on this.
This is all good.
No.
No, you don't think so.
Oh, man.
All right.
Listen, 12 more days.
The idea is we want to get a cure.
The president, in case you haven't been following the news, which I know you don't, how often do you listen to the show?
Like, never, right?
Never.
Never.
Okay.
How often do you watch my TV show?
Never.
Do you have any idea what I do for a living?
Yes.
Barely, right?
Barely.
Barely.
Okay.
Well, the president announced today, along with the.
Oh, you gotta, well, say goodbye to everybody.
Don't be rude.
Bye.
Okay.
We did have some announcements today.
Can you believe this?
That we have three fast-tracked FDA-approved.
Now, these are, we have two drugs that have been used and are showing extremely promising possibilities, both prophylactically and in terms of diminishing the effects of this coronavirus.
One is called chloroquin, and the other is called rendisivir, and it's an RNA inhibitor.
It was used with Ebola and SARS, chloroquine.
What's amazing, it's mostly been used since 1945 as a malaria drug.
And if you look at those areas of the world where they have had high incidence of malaria and they've been using this medicine, you have very low incidence of COVID-19, which is a lot of promising.
We have some other issues now before us.
We now, China, whether we can trust it or not, apparently we do have some other outside observers on the ground.
They are now saying that their infections are down to zero, meaning new infections, no locally transmitted coronavirus case for the first time since the pandemic began for them first identified.
We now know earlier than they said, around December 7th, the World Health Organization, oh, they actually said, oh, there's no person-to-person transmission of this virus.
They said that on January 14th.
The World Health Organization is useless.
And then slam Donald Trump.
The first case in the U.S., January 21, this year.
The travel ban in effect.
Yeah, the one that was called hysterical xenophobia and fear-mongering by Joe Biden.
Yeah, that was 10 days later.
We're going to get to Kevin McCarthy in just a second, but I want to just point out a couple of things as it relates to China.
You know, there's a report out now that the coronavirus outbreak could have been reduced by 95% worldwide if China acted sooner.
95%.
Now, this is a recent study, University of Southampton, and they said that the global outbreak would have dramatically been reduced had the government acted sooner.
I asked Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State last night on Hannity.
I said, well, if you had gotten a call from China early on and they said, hey, we got something going on here.
Maybe you want to come and bring your medical researchers, scientists, doctors, take a look at it.
Would you have acted?
And he's like, yeah, we would.
The reason that America is even offering Iran some medical assistance is because if Iranians travel abroad, then they're going to be infecting other people around the world too.
So it just could common sense.
95%.
This is outrageous.
And if China, now, we can't calculate how many people would have contracted this virus had the president not shut down the borders as quickly as he did.
It's just unbelievable to me.
And then we have media.
There's a great piece.
Where did I read this earlier today?
Newsbusters had this, how CBS and other media are praising how China attacked the virus.
That is nothing but, that is Chinese propaganda.
There's an article on Foxnews.com.
China recasts themselves as the global, get this, coronavirus response leader.
Really?
Because the world wouldn't have this but for their irresponsibility, recklessness in this and deceit and deception and hiding what was really going on.
Another on the Hill, an article, China and the World Health Organization's chief, hold them both accountable for this pandemic.
I agree with that.
We have Senator Tom Cotton and others introducing a bill to end U.S. dependence on Chinese manufacture pharmaceuticals.
That's got to happen.
We can't rely on them for anything.
And a Wall Street Journal report, China reports no domestic coronavirus infections for the first time.
Anyway, to deal with all of this, we have GOP, minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, with us.
How are you, Congressman?
I understand two members now have tested positive for corona.
Yes, we've got two, Mario Diaz-Billard from Florida, Republican, and then we've got Ben McAdams out of Utah, Democrat.
And we have some members who are around them self-quarantine themselves.
None of them have any symptoms, though.
What of this idea?
Did we ever get to a point where members could vote from home?
You know, you'd have to change the rules to do that.
We've done some research on that in the past when it came to the Spanish flu and others.
There's a way you can pass something by unanimous consent, but everybody'd have to agree to it.
So we're looking at different options, talking to the speaker about how can we make sure to have this happen, that we can come back and vote, because the Senate is working on another package now.
We want to make sure that package is what is needed.
We want to make sure we have timelines in there, but we want to really focus on small businesses, those employees making sure they're staying working and getting to the need that they need right now.
I don't think there's anybody as fiscally conservative as I am.
This is the country, though, that rebuilt Europe.
This is the country that beat back fascism, Nazism, Imperial Japan, communism, and radical Islamism.
We pay the price constantly, and the world benefits.
I always say there's never been a country in the history of the world, but the U.S. that has accumulated more power, as Barry Farber says, abuse it less, I say, that has also used it to advance the human condition more than this one.
So we have the first bill, and they're arguing about abortion in the House.
That was the Democrats.
That bill is talking about $435 million for global health programs, not to help Americans.
$300 million international disaster assistance, $264 million diplomatic programs, $100 million worldwide security protection, $250 million economic support fund.
Can we please focus on corona-related workers and industries and small business people and big industries that are impacted by this?
Why does Congress do this every time?
Well, you saw what we were able to do with that bill and change in that bill before it came to the floor.
We put a sunset.
We took the abortion language out of that.
We put the Hyde, which is a Hyde Amendment that's been there for so long protecting taxpayer money, not going for that.
We gave options for small businesses less than 50.
We made sure that we gave the ability for the labor secretary, treasury secretary to write regulations so they don't have to come back, giving flexibility greater to small businesses.
We gave small businesses advancement on money so they could actually pay their employees.
But the changes that we had to make that started with the speaker of what they try to do each and every time, they try to grab legislation that can never pass in the middle of a crisis and put it in.
We made them focus just on the coronavirus, that that was the only thing.
We made want to show their free testing.
And the other thing that your listeners really have to understand, you know this crisis we have when it comes to masks?
Well, we wanted 3M because they have these millions of more masks that are industrially made, but they could work for our nurses and others.
They just will get sued if we don't change it to allow them to sell it.
I mean, that's the red tape.
I mean, I thought today it was very, very hopeful today.
I thought today was a big step talking about chloroquin and remdisivir and convalescent plasma.
And so we tried to get that legislation in the supplemental, the very first bill.
The Democrats wouldn't let us.
Luckily, we got it into the second one.
So now millions of more masks are there.
But I thought the press conference was very good today.
I talked to the president in between his two meetings.
And here's a guy who is definitely never sleeping.
And I think he has the right team sitting in there when you watch this.
But think about this.
It took us two years to get to the clinical one testing level for a vaccine when it was SARS.
We are already there.
There are people in Washington state that are already being injected with the vaccine being tested.
That's unbelievable.
You've got these therapies from Gileads and the others watching that, how to best treat that.
And that was the focus of this president and the FDA and others.
And remember, President Trump was the one, and I got the phone calls.
He pushed us to be able to change the FDA to allow people who are sick and at the last stages to have the right to try.
Meaning there is a drug out there, but it hasn't been approved, but it's very promising, gone through the test.
You can try it if you want to be able to save your life.
That is going to be able to move and save people's lives, just like with this president making that decision early on to not allow those planes from China to come to America.
Now the World Health Organization is saying the epicenter is Europe.
You know why?
Because their leadership didn't do the same thing that President Trump did, and people criticized him for it.
Are you getting some emails as I am that there are, for example, people that have been on church missions that still can't get out of Peru, that there are Americans being held on some of these cruise ships and they can't get out?
I know it may sound individually, but I hate any American caught anywhere.
And what can we do to help these people?
You know, I did get an email like that today.
There are pockets around the world.
Americans can come back home.
And we're working through that.
Sometimes it becomes a challenge with that country itself, but we work through that.
I've talked to at the very beginning of this when we were bringing Americans back from China, working personally with Secretary Pompeo, taking a hands-on approach, getting individuals out.
And sometimes it's the country allowing them out because you'll have a situation that maybe there is an American citizen and the spouse is here on a visa and that country is holding them up.
But this is something that they've been working through.
And you were right, Sean, when you talk about what the compassion of America, if China had allowed our scientists, our researchers, and our doctors in at the very beginning, we could have contained this in China.
Because there's a prime example.
Member Ebola, which is even more deadly, was happening in Africa.
Here we are, even in Congress.
We appropriated money.
Why?
Because it was smart to keep it contained in Africa.
And you know what the American from the NIH and the CDC was able to do?
contain it and now we have a vaccine for it and we're safe from it had china and this is where america is going to save the world I'm telling you what's going to happen.
We are going to save the world again.
Do you have a couple of minutes to hang with us?
Or you got to run?
Yes, I do.
All right.
Kevin McCarthy, GOP leader, House of Representatives, talk more about the aid that is much needed for American workers and industry, big small businesses across the country.
I know I have so many friends of mine.
I'm worried about waiters, waitresses, people that are in industries that are getting clobbered here.
And the long-term help that they deserve has to be forthcoming quickly and the right help.
All right.
Kevin McCarthy was called into a meeting, and he said he'll come back anytime we want.
We appreciate his time.
Wendy, in Florida, you have a daughter that has an immune disorder, it says on my screen, and she's tried chloroquine.
So, hey, Sean, thanks for coming.
Great, great.
So, she took hydroxychloroquine when she was a baby, and she had some autoimmune issues, and it was a fantastic drug.
There was never a single side effect, and it was very affordable.
Well, that's everything that they're saying, especially the only it's one without side effects that they know of.
It's now been around since 1945.
All good stuff.
The only potential downfall side effect is at very, very high doses that could impact site.
But they're not, the therapeutic levels we're talking about are nothing near the doses that would pose that kind of risk.
And yes, even pregnant women, according to this study that I read from earlier and young children, can and do use it.
And you're confirming that.
How long did she take it for?
So she took it for about two years, and her eyes were monitored closely.
We went monthly to have her eyes checked.
Even since she's had an MRI on her orbit, and everything is fine.
She's fine.
You know what?
I'm glad to hear that.
I mean, there's nothing scarier as a parent, right, than when your kids are sick.
Nothing.
Life stops when your kids are sick.
Yeah, but we're doing it right now.
I'm glad she's okay.
How old is she now?
So she's 11 now, and she's actually in a Fulbright mission.
So we're living the best life.
Oh, that's awesome.
By the way, did you hear what I said to my daughter?
Oh, glad you and your friends are afraid of germs.
Afraid of viruses.
Because any boy you'll ever meet has tons of germs and viruses.
Yeah, I think I'll use the same thing on my daughter.
Yeah, she just said that she was leaving.
Very funny, daddy.
I thought it was hilarious, but what do I know?
Thank you.
I'm glad your daughter's fine, Wendy.
Send our best.
God bless her.
And this is showing amazing prospects.
I'll explain.
We went into chloroquine.
I'll explain convalescent plasma and what that would do next.
All right, glad you're with us.
25 to the top of the hour.
We're going to do something we haven't done.
And I know a lot of you probably have questions.
Well, we'll talk to our medical experts, a team, and maybe we'll take a few calls if you have any specific questions you want to ask them that maybe I'm not asking.
I'm trying to get as many in as I can.
So, oh, a couple of news items.
Drive-in movies are making a comeback because of coronavirus.
Now, remember, I bet a lot of you don't even know what a drive-in movie is, which is funny.
But there are 305 drive-in theaters now across the USA.
Owners in California, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, LA Times reporting that attendance on the rise, although attendance in movie theaters is like, was it an all-time low?
I guess they've probably closed them down by now.
Anyway, we have one guy quoted in here.
His family has owned California's Paramount Drive-In for seven decades, said the ticket sales had been at least double the amount from the previous Tuesday.
And that theater sold 320 tickets that day.
Family indoor theaters were closed, I guess, just two days earlier.
A welcome relief for families looking for a getaway.
And now we have two people, that Rick Wilson, idiotic comment about Melania, and then we had the attack against Ivanka.
I mean, these people can't help themselves.
They can't help themselves.
They care not to help themselves.
But I thought that was an interesting side note to things.
Domino's Pizza, they project that they are going to hire.
And maybe this is information you can use.
Approximately 10,000 workers in response to the coronavirus pandemic amid increased demand for food delivery.
Our corporate franchise stores want to make sure that they're not only feeding people, but providing opportunity for those looking for work at this time.
I order a local pizza place by me, Mario's, all the time.
Love those guys.
Go in and see them all the time.
And thankfully, they have a well-known delivery business.
You might want to also check with whatever your favorite restaurant happens to be, because I know a couple of my favorite restaurants, and I mentioned it on Twitter and got the crap beat out of me over the weekend because I support what they're doing is the waiters are the ones that are delivering the food.
And you may want to think about tipping them if you can, if you can afford it, because half their income is now gone, at least.
And some are being laid off.
So you might want to check if your favorite place is delivering food, wherever you like to go.
I like to go to different places.
I like steak and I like Italian food.
That's what I like.
And I do like Chinese food, too.
And there's a place in town that I use all the time.
Wonderful people.
And they work so hard.
When I go and pick up, I don't know if you've ever watched people, the quantity of food that is produced, at least in the Chinese restaurant I go to, I mean, is massive.
And I watch, they got the system down and the amount of food that they're cranking out on any given night and then delivering is unbelievable.
And they've got this whole system where they keep it clean.
And I mean, it's amazing skill.
And it's like, you know, an average day.
And they feed so many of us.
So that's good news.
If you can call your local restaurants, be proactive, see if they're open.
And maybe you could just order in and have a family dinner and put a couple of movies on, Netflix or what is it?
Apple?
Prime.
Oh, there's Hulu.
There's Netflix.
Prime Video.
Amazon Prime.
You know, another thing that we have to remind our audience about, China.
Do you watch Yellowstone?
Oh, my gosh, that was great.
You're obsessed with that show.
What's the other one you're obsessed with?
Life Below Zero.
Well, no, that one I've been kind of over for a while.
I still like it, but I watched them all.
The other one is tuna.
And I love, what's the Nat Geo one about the guys that are fishing in the Crabbers?
I don't know.
Too busy working.
Deadliest catch.
Oh, you got to watch that.
I want to be, I want to, I want to captain one of those ships one day.
We'll make you, we'll make you the first leadership.
My the first mate lead.
Yeah, you'll be the first mate.
I'll be up in the warm cabin driving the boat.
I mean, they have swells that are like 30 feet up in the air.
And you're watching these guys.
And then, I mean, it's sometimes so heartbreaking.
They'll pull up their crab traps as nothing.
And then all of a sudden they'll pull them up and it's full to the brim.
And then the next one's full to the brim.
Yeah, you're like, come on, let's go.
I get so excited watching those shows.
We get tuna and the dragon in that tuna.
I love it.
I love all those guys.
I'd love to own one of those boats.
I'd love to run one of those boats.
I'd love to be on one of those boats.
It's a lot less stressful than being on this boat.
Sounds like you have your retirement planned.
I don't know.
You can charter a lot of those actors.
The problem is I'm going to be throwing up every day for like the first year before my body adjusts to the swells that these guys go through every day.
They actually have a thing called a gyro that stabilizes the boat now.
Does it work?
Yeah, no, it reduces the 2090%.
I'm not worried about rolling over.
I'm worried about my stomach rolling over again and again with 20-foot swells.
Okay, so moving on, I've got some information for our audience.
Yeah, go ahead.
You know, I want everybody, if you have an elderly neighbor or family member, to check out your local supermarkets because they're designating blocks of time for older people who might be more susceptible to COVID-19 to food shop without being scared for their life.
So there's news I liked today, and there's news I didn't like.
I didn't like now that we are seeing hospitalizations of younger people.
I didn't like that at all because that was not the case.
This is, well, the first time I read this, it seemed to be isolated to a couple of people in, I think, Great Britain.
I think I saw it in the Daily Mail.
And then a doctor was writing about it, but the percentages here are much higher.
And I've got to get Dr. Fauci back on and ask him, well, why are we seeing younger people here where we didn't see it before?
Because he's been on this program so many times.
Anyway.
But anyway, pretty amazing stuff going on.
Oh, all right.
Let me, so the president, so the bad news is about, uh-oh, now younger people, we have to watch out for it.
By the way, young people, pay attention.
You don't want to get this virus.
But the good news is, is that the president with the FDA, we are seeing tremendous results in the use of chloroquin.
It's a drug that's been around since 1945.
It's used to stop malaria.
And we are now seeing that it acts, number one, as a preventative or prophylactic to prevent contraction.
And number two, if you have it, they're seeing dramatic improvements in CT scans of the lungs, shorter hospital stays, and having a dramatic impact there.
Now, the other one that we discussed earlier is remdis remdisivir, which is an RNA inhibitor.
And they've used it with Ebola and SARS, and they've had great early success with that.
Again, like with chloroquin, younger people can use it.
Even pregnant women, again, I'm reading from a scientific study today.
I'm not Dr. Hannity.
Check for yourself.
But also, I mean, South Korea has shown it.
France has shown it.
And China, if you believe anything from China, they've been saying the same thing.
And then they talked about with the president today with the FDA officials.
This is great because if we can now prevent people from getting or contracting the virus, that stops the spread of the virus.
And second thing is, if people, if we can eliminate their symptoms that much faster and it's having that big of an impact, and we know in the case of chloroquine that it is not dangerous to people because they've had it since 1945, unless it's taken at ridiculously high doses, the therapeutic levels we're looking at now are nowhere near the doses that would be impactful for eyesight.
Again, I'm referring to the study that I mentioned earlier.
That would be great.
The other thing they mentioned is what's called convalescent plasma.
This is where Linda's going to lose her mind, and I'm just guessing.
I don't know yet, where it's been listed as a therapeutic method by China's National Health Commission, and people who recovered from COVID-19, corona, would have antibodies against the virus.
And what they're doing is they take those antibodies from somebody that already had corona and they infuse the antibodies to critically ill patients, and that increases dramatically the chances of their survival.
And the plasma is then transfused.
It contains the antibodies, which makes a lot of sense.
And they've done this with other diseases in the past as well.
And the company had collected plasma from some of the recovered patients to prepare these therapeutic products, including convalescent plasma and immune globulin.
And plasma has now taken from recovered patients in Wuhan since January 20th and has been given to more than a dozen patients.
Initially, three critically ill patients in a hospital in Wuhan that got the plasma treatment survived.
An additional 10 patients received the treatment since then.
And they are saying the patients that got the plasma therapy have showed improvement in the clinical symptoms within 12 to 24 hours after being given the therapy.
So that is a huge development as well because we're watching 11,274 cases in the U.S., 157 deaths worldwide, 237,996 cases, 9,819 deaths.
You know, remember the pandemic, N1H1, to quote Joe Biden from the Biden-Obama administration.
You know, the thing, the thing, that guy.
But anyway, we had over 500,000, close to 575,000 deaths worldwide.
We had hundreds of thousands of Americans as it relates to swine flu that contracted swine flu, that were hospitalized from swine flu.
You know, anywhere between 12,469 died just in the first year alone.
And then we had 60.8 million Americans that contracted swine flu.
There was no travel ban.
There was no urgency like we have today.
That's why a lot of this is going to be game-changing.
We put together a timeline.
I'll actually, the Washington Times, I got to give credit, we took a lot of it from them.
They did a great job.
And when you started December 30th, when they discovered this virus with pneumonia-like symptoms, and January 7th, the CDC finally gave it a name, and that was coronavirus.
And January 17th, the CDC began implementing public health entry screening at major airports.
And then January 20th, Dr. Fauci, who we've had on this program a lot, announced an effort to develop the vaccine, which we are now at the stage one trials of.
January 21st, the first case in the United States was also the day the CDC activated its emergency operations center.
And January 31st, the president declares a public health emergency.
That's 10 days after the first person known case in America.
That's how quickly he acted.
That's when Joe said he was hysterically xenophobic and a fear-mongerer.
10 days after.
Amazing.
You know, and the president and his State of the Union will take all necessary steps.
He's been on message the whole time.
January 11th, Health and Human Services expanded a partnership with different research and development firms to expedite the development of a vaccine.
I mean, all of this in record time.
Administration sent a letter to Congress requesting the early monies in February.
Then they announced a level four travel advisory.
Then they expanded it to Italy, South Korea, Iran.
Then the CDC lifted restrictions for coronavirus testing to allow Americans to be tested subject to doctors' orders.
Now we have, you know, these drive-up centers.
I mean, things have, listen, I don't know, as long as we can get the needed medical supplies and everything else and everything online, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
You're going to hear about, you know, thousands and thousands of more Americans that contracted it.
That's why this 15-day period is so crucial to stop it, mitigate it, and then hopefully these new treatments that they are in record time.
I mean, the president basically took an axe to the FDA today and said, we're doing it.
And because there's no dangerous side effects that we know of with a drug that's been FDA approved since 1945 and that we've been using since 1945.
It's been around since 1945.
Let's say hi to Chris in Missouri.
Hey, Chris, how are you?
And thanks for taking my call, Sean.
Hey, thank you.
How are you doing?
Well, I'm doing pretty good so far.
Hanging in there.
I just want to let you know.
Oh, yeah, just hanging in there, trying to get by one day at a time.
I just want to give you a short story about that.
And thanks for everything you're doing.
I'm a longtime listener and a big fan of yours.
But my son, he's 21 now.
He goes to Missouri.
And when he was younger, we found out that he had winter asthma really bad.
So every year they gave him the chloroquine.
And in a matter of days, it was all better.
Now he still has the asthma, but not as bad.
But every year they would give that to him.
And I tell you what, he could sleep at night.
And then when he came down with pneumonia, they gave it to him then, along with the steroid.
And I tell you what, that cleared him right up.
So it's a wonderful thing.
How old was he when he first started using it, Chris?
Oh, I would say he was in kindergarten.
So he would have been about five or six years old because at night he couldn't sleep because of the cough.
And it was just in the fall, winter time.
Then in the summertime, he was just fine.
But they gave it to him at that age.
And I tell you what, it just cleared him right up.
I mean, he had to have it.
And how old is he now?
11.
He's 21.
Oh, 21.
He's 21.
You know what that means?
He's 21 now.
That means you have no more control.
I have a 21-year-old.
You know what?
You know what?
Say I haven't anything?
Nothing.
You know, I describe myself in life as an ATM machine.
That's how I just.
No kidding.
I'm an ATM machine.
My daughter wasn't kidding.
She barely knows what I do for a living.
She really doesn't, which is fine with me.
Yeah, I'm in Kansas City, Missouri right now, and they found a guy in our building that had traveled from Ohio to here.
And now I guess our building's infected.
But we just found out today, and we're downtown Kansas City, so I don't know what's going to happen to us.
You know, you can spray antivirals in planes.
You can spray them in public spaces.
You can spray them in hotel rooms.
I've been reading all about it.
And apparently they work really well.
That is great news on your son.
What a great story.
And you know what?
If people now are worried, that's great to hear people that have actually used it.
And we appreciate you sharing it with us.
And I share your misery.
21 is the worst year.
When do they get to 30?
That's when I'll be happy.
30, and you know all the BS is gone.
I'm looking for that.
Forward to that day.
If you've been exposed to coronavirus and you're better, you don't have the virus in your blood, we could collect the blood.
Now, this is a possible treatment.
This is not a proven treatment.
Just want to emphasize that.
Collect the blood, concentrate that, and have the ability, once it's pathogen-free, that is virus-free, be able to give that to other patients.
And the immunoglobulins, the immune response, could potentially provide a benefit to patients.
It's another thing that we're looking at.
Over the next couple of weeks, we'll have more information that we're really pushing hard to try to accelerate that.
That's in the sort of more medium-short term.
And that'll be a bridge to other therapies that will take us three to six months to develop.
And this is a continuous process.
There is no beginning and end to each of this.
This is, you know, we're pushing this through.
All right, that was the FDA Commissioner.
Glad you're with us.
News Roundup and Information Overload Hour.
Stephen Hahn, FDA Commissioner, talking about chloroquine and this new plasma possibility as treatments.
And one other drug, as I mentioned earlier today, and cutting all FDA red tape, it has shown enormous promise.
I've gone through all the technical aspects of this throughout the show today.
But to give us more of a medical perspective, we have Dr. Peter Constantino, brain surgeon, was the head of the New York Head and Neck Institute and here to discuss.
Also, Betsy McCoy, former Lieutenant Governor, New York, also chairwoman of the Committee to Reduce Infectious Deaths.
All right, Dr. Constantino, we've seen great promise in a lot of these areas.
Can you go into this, for example, this malaria drug, which has shown promise in China, South Korea, and other places?
What are your thoughts?
Well, first, John, thank you for having me on the show.
And Betsy, it's a real privilege to be on with you.
Having said that, you know, chloroquine is, it was developed in 1946.
It's one of the original antibiotics, and it was used for years and still is for many forms of malaria.
And it's also used for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Shogun syndrome, and these are autoimmune diseases.
And it seems that the chloroquine has two effects, both of which are potentially very valuable against the coronavirus.
One is that it may be viricidal, where it actually kills the virus or helps it stop from replicating.
And I think most people know that viruses, unlike bacteria, which can replicate themselves, viruses inject their material into a cell and then hijack a human cell to start making viruses for them.
And that's how the cells are damaged.
So the chloroquine and the hydroxychloroquine seem to interfere with this, but they also do another thing.
They're an anti-inflammatory, and that's why they're useful with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
And one of the problems that really critically ill patients with coronavirus infection have is that they get cytokine storm, which is their body attacking itself.
And so the chloroquine also stops this cytokine storm to some degree.
Great analysis.
And from what I hear, in the doses that they're talking about, 400 or 500 milligrams, there is risk, but it's reduced.
Take it in larger quantities, Dr. Constantino.
My understanding is it could have a negative or detrimental impact on eyesight, et cetera.
It's a very rare complication because the drug can bind to the pigments in your retina that are around the area called the macula.
And the macula is the most sensitive area of the retina that allows you to see.
And everybody's heard of macular degeneration.
And this can cause a pharmacologic type of macular degeneration, but it's very rare.
The other things that it can cause are tinnitus, which is ringing in the ears, and deafness.
But the hydroxychloroquine seems to have a much lower side effect profile than standard chloroquine.
And as an example, the hydroxychloroquine is also called paquanil.
And paquanil is used by many, many people who have lupus and so forth.
And they take it for years without any side effects.
So this is a gift from God that such a cheap, such a long-standing antibiotic that was never designed for this virus may not only effectively treat the virus and keep it from replicating, but may also treat some of the other symptoms associated with the intense inflammation that can destroy your lungs, particularly in younger people.
All right, Betsy McCoy, let's get your take on these developments.
Sound very promising to me, and frankly, people want this kind of hope.
Absolutely.
And that's why we have optimism, Sean, even in the middle of a crisis like this, from the beginning, we could see that the answer here is human ingenuity, scientific inquiry.
You know, when the coronavirus first struck, literally just four months later, we knew the entire genetic makeup of that virus.
It took us years to get that far with AIDS.
So the scientists are going to rescue us from this.
I'm very optimistic about this particular discovery.
I have the study right here on my desk.
And when this French doctor first tried this, he found with just 20 patients that 70% of them were considered cured after six days on hydroxychloroquine.
So clearly, it has a very promising impact.
It's early on, but thank goodness the FDA has discarded most of its very, very serious regulatory hurdles and gone right ahead and approved this because patients who are lying in bed now on a ventilator don't want any delays.
They want to be treated.
Okay, pretty fascinating stuff that we're all watching here.
As it relates to the plasma that the FDA head, Commissioner, was saying earlier today.
Pete, how do you Dr. Pete, I should say, I should give you credit for being a brain surgeon.
How do you feel about this, what do they call it, convalescent plasma as a possible treatment?
So convalescent plasma, I think most people actually have been made familiar with it by movies like The Omega Man with Charles Peston and I Am Legend with Will Smith, where the guy who is immune to the virus, you know, the answer is in his blood, and that blood is the plasma.
And that's essentially what we're talking about here, is that people who get infected and then get better, they have antibodies against this virus that have been successfully produced by that patient that can be harvested and turned into a type of drug.
And this process is already FDA approved.
The only question is, is it going to work?
And we've used it in other types of exposure scenarios like hepatitis and so forth.
And it may be very valuable, particularly for our health care workers, as a preventative, a prophylactic.
So you give them this convalescent plasma in a concentrated dose, and it makes them much more resistant to getting the virus.
A lot has to be done to figure this out.
But between the remdisivir and the chloroquine and the hydroxychloroquine and convalescent plasma and then the vaccine, we're going to get through this.
Listen, if it was me, Betsy, I want to ask you this.
This is why the president's right to try initiative was so pivotal to me and transformative.
If I want to try experimental treatments and I'm in a situation where I'm not allowed to, excuse me, it's my life, my body.
Now, if I see potentially some promising treatments or therapy for whatever it is I'm dealing with, I'd like to write to do that.
Your reaction to the convalescent plasma, Betsy McCoy.
Oh, of course.
I think it's also extremely promising, and it follows a pattern that we've seen in medical science again and again.
There are two more new pieces of data that should really turn our heads as we're battling this coronavirus.
The first is new data right out of the CDC that says, contrary to what everyone thought at the beginning, younger adults are very vulnerable to coronavirus.
35% of those who are ill enough to require hospitalization in the U.S. are under 55 years of age.
Let me interrupt you, Oliver, because we've been talking about this today, and you're right.
This is new.
This is not what we were told in the very beginning about this.
And that then becomes a big part of it.
Up to 20% of people hospitalized with coronavirus in the U.S., we're now discovering are young adults.
That was not what we were told.
Between the ages of 20 and 44, new federal study and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Also, while the risk of dying is significantly higher in older people, they are saying at the CDC that younger people are making up a big portion of hospitalizations.
And it goes beyond that.
We're talking about 20 to 44 years of age, 20%, 18% between the ages of 45 and 54.
But yeah, the overwhelming majority are still older, but those were not numbers we had heard until really today.
And that should be a powerful secondary argument to encourage those younger people who are flouting our appeal to stay home, shelter in place, avoid social gatherings, help us beat this virus by not allowing it to spread, right?
They're ignoring a lot of that.
The older people in their 50s and 60s and 70s are lying awake at night wondering if this is how they're going to die.
The younger people are much more worried about whether their vacations canceled, whether they're still going to get their paycheck, how they're going to get their groceries, who's going to take care of their kids when school is out.
But they need to focus on the medical side of this, and this added information will help them.
The other piece of information that should be very persuasive is that new data show that the most contagious people are the ones on days one to five.
In other words, before you have symptoms, you're more contagious.
You're shedding more of the virus than you will later on.
So when you hear the CDC say, if you don't feel well, stay home.
Even if you do feel well, stay home.
You could still be very infectious to others around you.
Before I get to Dr. Pete, on the issue of these younger kids, there was one other, there were three issues that were brought up by the president of the FDA today.
That's remdisivir also.
Your take on that.
Okay, so remdisivir is an RNA inhibitor.
And so, you know, our cells have DNA in them, which is the genetic material that tells you whether or not you're going to be a dog or a human or whatever.
Viruses are not.
Liberals think I'm a dog, but go ahead.
I got it.
Viruses have either DNA or RNA in them, and the coronaviruses are RNA viruses.
And the remdisivir interferes with the ability of the RNA in the virus, once it's injected into your cells, to be converted into DNA that could then take over the cell so it makes virus.
And it's very promising.
It was used for Ebola.
It was successful with SARS.
When this virus originally came out, the coronavirus was referred to as SARS variant, and it shares genetic components with it.
So there's a lot of reason to believe that Remdisivir is going to work.
The trouble with it, it's early.
It's very early.
I don't mean to interrupt you.
We'll get back to Remdisivir.
We'll get back to what is convalescent plasma and chloroquine or chloroquine, depending on how you pronounce it.
And we'll take a break.
We'll come back more with Dr. Pete, more with Betsy McCoy.
All right, as we continue with Dr. Peter Constantino, he's actually the he's a real brain surgeon, New York Head Neck Institute director and also Betsy McCoy, a former lieutenant governor of New York chairwoman of the committee to reduce infection deaths.
You know, it's a very simple thing, Peter Constantino, that I asked you last night, Dr. Pete, and that was, you know, there are only five places that this virus can ever enter your body.
What does that mean for people that want to protect themselves?
Gloves, masks, the proper use thereof, Purel, et cetera.
So you're absolutely right.
There's five doorways.
It's each eye, your nostrils, and your mouth.
And if that virus doesn't get in through those doorways, you're not going to get the virus.
You're not going to get sick.
And during this time period of the next few months between where we're at now and when we have these other agents available that can disrupt the ability of the virus to continue, you need to depend upon keeping the virus out of your eyes, nose, and mouth.
So number one is you don't touch your face.
You don't touch your eyes.
That is the most effective way of transmitting it other than droplets in the air.
Additionally, you want to clean your hands frequently, which you've heard.
But I believe wearing gloves is really an important thing.
And you can buy those nitrile gloves, a pack of 100 of them for about $5.
And when you put them on your hands and they're purple or black or whatever, not only does it keep your hands clean, but it helps you keep from touching your face.
We involuntarily touch our face and eyes and nose all the time.
And for me, when I'm out, I wear those gloves because it reminds me, don't touch your face.
And then when you look at surfaces and you realize that the virus can persist for three days on metal surfaces, six hours on fabric, 12 hours on cardboard, you go to the grocery store, you're coming into contact with all that.
Who knows how many people have been there?
Let me ask some follow up then.
Would you then recommend to my audience, and I want my audience safe and secure and their families healthy.
Obviously, we've said that from day one, would you recommend people be wearing gloves and masks as a daily part of their life for the time being?
I personally, for me and for my family, believe that the gloves are actually more effective, more important, because, one, they're easily available.
They're not in short supply.
In contrast, the N95 and N100 masks that you wear are in short supply, and our healthcare workers need those.
The surgical masks you see people wearing, particularly in Asia, putting a scarf around your face, it does nothing.
It doesn't keep the virus particles out.
It doesn't keep the droplets out.
It does nothing.
Not only that, you're only going to get exposure within six to ten feet of somebody who's recently coughed or sneezed because there's droplets in the air.
In contrast, we come in contact with surfaces all over our hands.
I'll tell you what we'll do.
And we haven't done this before, but if you want to call and you have any medical questions or safety questions for you and your family, we'll continue.
Dr. Peter Constantino, Betsy McCoy, 800-941.
Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, we'll do a little Ask the Doctor.
Ask the one.
This is not the Dr. Hannity segment that we've done over the years.
Not the exact same thing.
Quick break.
We'll come back.
We'll continue.
An amazing Hannity 9 Eastern tonight.
Facts without fear.
News information.
You won't get with panic hypsteria, just truth.
And these developments today are massive.
We will continue.
All right, 25 to the top of the hour.
800-941.
Sean, you want to be a part of the program?
Now, we're taking calls from people.
If you have any specific medical questions, Dr. Peter Constantino is with us.
Betsy McCoy is with us.
Would you advise people, Pete, whether or not, Dr. Pete, they should be wearing masks and gloves every day?
And Betsy will let you answer after Pete.
So my son, I said, you've got to wear gloves whenever you go out.
And he's like, I hate wearing these gloves.
How do I scratch my nose?
Ah, good idea.
You can't.
You're scratching your nose.
So I think the gloves are actually more important in changing transmission.
Betsy, I'd love your perspective.
Absolutely.
I'm wearing gloves every time I go out.
I have to tell you, I'm going out very seldom.
I'm in a high-risk category, so I'm avoiding going out.
And I have my daughter here who's about to give birth.
So, of course, I wouldn't want to bring this coronavirus into our household.
And that raises a really important thing.
I'm sure all of us saw the tragic picture of the Fusco family from New Jersey.
They were pictured on almost every newspaper today.
The matriarch of the family, a mother of nine.
She contracted coronavirus at a family party along with two of her children.
None of them knew they were carrying the coronavirus.
One of them had worked with somebody who had the coronavirus but didn't know it.
And that really underscores the importance of not getting together, even with your own family members in a big group like that, because they had no idea they would be killing their brothers and sisters.
But that's exactly what happened.
Unbelievable.
All right, let's get to a couple of calls here.
We'll start in Canada.
Kevin in Canada is with us.
Our borders are closed, but we're friends with our good friends in Canada, our friends to the north.
Just out of an abundance of caution, what's up, Kevin?
Say hi to Dr. Peter Constantino and Betsy McCoy.
Oh, hi, guys.
A quick question.
I do want to shout out to Trump for closing the borders.
But I'm a marathon runner, and I want to know if you have a higher VO2 mocks because it's a respiratory illness.
Does it give you a better chance at, because I'm 54 years old, I'm not young, I'm not old.
Do I have a better chance of fighting it off than, say, perhaps somebody who's said it answering?
Of course.
Of course you do.
This is a lung disease.
So the healthier your lungs are, the better your chance.
It doesn't mean you won't get infected, but you can battle the virus better.
Smokers are extremely vulnerable.
vapors are not doing well but if you have that's actually not true There was an article about a medical study that showed that vaping, the whatever propofol-something chloride in a vape is actually preventing people from getting well.
I saw that, Sean.
Don't speak out against my vaping.
I like vaping.
Sean, that propylene glycol is not proven.
It also has other side effects.
I don't think we can consider vaping therapeutic.
I think it's extremely therapeutic for me only.
Nobody else.
All right, go ahead.
You wanted to weigh in, Dr. But Anthony Bauci, whom we see on TV every day, he's really leading this effort in a heroic way.
He is a real runner, and he's 79.
And he attributes his stamina, his ability to continue to really marshal this effort in part to his running.
He's been great, by the way.
He's done in six presidents he's now served.
Pete, you want to weigh in on the marathon runner?
By the way, Kevin, I'm jealous.
I could not be a marathon runner.
I'd be bored out of my mind, but go ahead.
So, Bethie, I agree with everything you said.
And technically, as far as our call-in is concerned, he has a better chance because he's got good pulmonary function.
But here's a cautionary tale, and this relates to our young people also.
How you deal with this virus isn't just dependent upon your underlying conditions.
It's also dependent upon your genetics.
And some of us, when we get infected with a virus, overproduce cytokines.
Cytokines are chemicals that are very toxic, both to bacteria and to viruses, but also to our own cells.
And many times those cytokines can get out of control, called a cytokine storm.
And those are the people that get into really bad trouble with their lungs because their body's attacking their lungs.
And that's why corac wine can be helpful because it's also anti-inflammatory.
And we have a resident who's 31 years old who got infected with no underlying conditions, been intubated for two days, otherwise healthy.
And that's not just, yeah, that's because the virus also interacts with your personal genetics.
So don't consider yourself immune because you're a runner.
Well said.
I hope that answers your question.
Kevin in Canada, thank you.
We go to Shelly in the great state of Tennessee.
Shelly, you're on the Sean Hannity Show with Dr. Peter Constantino and Betsy McCoy.
Well, hello.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you.
I have a question.
My mom is 81.
I'm 54.
We both got sick right before we had already had one case, two cases in Nashville.
We both got an upper respiratory infection.
We had fever.
We had a lot of coughing.
I actually had a worse case than my mom did, but I'm type O blood.
No, I'm type A blood.
She's type O.
And then we were absolutely exhausted for almost, I'm just finally now getting my energy back, and she's still working on getting her energy back.
While I know that there is absolutely no way you can tell whether or not we've already had coronavirus, is there a test available yet to look for the antibodies to see if maybe we've already had it?
Dr. Pete, you want to answer me?
No, go ahead.
I don't know if you're going to.
Well, let me say one thing.
I do know about this because I have to, for my job, read about this.
There was research that if you are type A, if you have a type A blood type, that there is a greater vulnerability.
I did see that very comments being made.
Dr. Pete, your thoughts.
So there is a correlation between the type of blood you have and how you're going to respond to various illnesses, and that relates to the underlying genetic basis for the interaction between the virus and the host and how they end up doing.
But relative to a test that exists now, the convalescent plasma would be able to test for that, but I'm not sure if it's widely available.
I don't think it's the same testing as by any standard as a swab of the nose.
That's looking for the virus itself.
And so I don't know about the specifics of going and get your blood, getting your blood drawn to see if you are convalescent and successful in having produced antibodies.
I just don't have that information.
And I'd just like to weigh in and say that you and everyone else listening should pretend that they can still get this virus.
If we all access and avoid social interaction, we can beat it.
All right.
I hope that answers your question, Shelly.
I hope you and your mom feel better and stay healthy.
Hey, Sean.
Linda.
Hi.
May I jump in for one moment?
As if I have any choice.
Go right ahead.
So, Dr. Pete and Betsy, my friends, I have a question for you myself here.
So I just relax, Sean.
So I have a four-year-old, and obviously there was some news out today that some of the questions around babies, toddlers, now they actually might be susceptible, and I'm a little bit concerned about that.
Can you guys elaborate a little bit?
I think you should be concerned.
That's what the new data show.
Not the data coming out of China, but the data we see in Europe and in the United States suggests that, in fact, there's a sweet spot for children between five and about 12, but below age five, they are vulnerable.
And does it leave permanent marks?
I mean, because I'm hearing about this permanent lung damage, and that's what's really scaring me.
Yeah, it's much less likely that a young child is going to have permanent lung damage.
Adults who, again, have a much greater cytokine response are going to get that kind of lung damage.
But nonetheless, if you look at the first 2,000 kids out of China, 6% of them became significantly ill with respiratory distress of some degree.
4% showed nothing.
50% got ill, but it wasn't bad.
And another 40%, it was moderate.
But 6% is not a small number.
And given the inability of children below the age of five to engage in any infection control behavior whatsoever, they're at risk, period.
Yeah, I mean, I installed Purell dispensers in my house, so my son is like Purelling every five seconds.
He thinks it's really fun.
He thinks it's a game.
No play dates.
Yeah, no play dates.
I haven't had any about my house.
And then one more point that Dr. Pete and I are talking about, which I know Betsy can also point to.
Can you elaborate, Dr. Pete, on what kind of gloves and the masks?
Because people are putting all sorts of wear gloves on their hands.
They're coming in in like full bodysuits.
Like, it's, I don't even know what is protocol anymore and what's good and what's helping us.
So there's no formal protocol about gloves, but it's kind of amazing after the show last night, we've gotten so many calls and inquiries about gloves and masks and very basic things that we're going to be doing a YouTube video just to kind of explain this and show what works, what doesn't, what you pay attention to, and what you ignore.
But I think that the easiest gloves to get are the nitrile gloves, that's N-I-T-R-I-L-E.
They come in various colors.
They're useful because you can actually still operate a smart device like a phone with the touch controls.
They're very inexpensive.
A box of 100 of them is probably $5, and they're not in short supply.
And those gloves protect your hands to some degree from picking up the virus, but you have to be careful when you take the gloves off.
But they mainly, for me and my family, keep everybody from touching their face continuously when they're out.
Well said.
Let's grab another call here.
Missy, West Virginia.
Missy, you're on the Sean Hannity Show.
Say hi to Betsy McCoy, Dr. Pete Constantino, and Dr. Sean and Linda.
Hi, Sean.
Hi, Linda.
Hi, Pete.
Hi, Betsy.
Okay, I'm glad that you guys are on here because I have this looping question.
We're trying to protect everybody from getting this disease.
Is your immune system not strengthened by being exposed to things which make, what, your T cells in your body say, hey, look, there's something, we need to act on this.
So are we not prohibiting people from developing immunity to it by not exposing people to it?
Question.
I'd like to jump in on that.
We're worried about the compromised people getting this.
They're compromised for everything that comes down the pike.
Someone who's carrying TB but who doesn't have it.
For the next E. coli breakout, the next listeria breakout, the next salmonella breakout.
They're always going to be compromised.
Let's keep in mind that one of our major concerns now is that the health care system is so overwhelmed with people suffering from coronavirus and needing serious health care, intensive care unit beds and ventilators, that part of the reason that we want to create this social distancing and limit the number of people suddenly getting infected is that we can't handle them all.
There aren't enough hospital beds and nurses and doctors.
And when they say flatten the curve, they mean stretch it out so that our capacity is not overwhelmed by the number of sick people.
Dr. Pete?
Yeah, I think you were also focusing on shouldn't we let people get infected so that it better prepares them in the future for other infections to be able to fight it off.
And it unfortunately doesn't work that way.
I wish it did, but your getting infected with the coronavirus is not going to materially improve in any way your ability to fight off salmonella or some other thing.
It's very specific to that pathogen, that virus, that bacteria.
And you're immunity-specific.
If you get a tetanus shot, it protects you against tetanus.
It doesn't protect you against anthrax, and it doesn't cross between the two.
So, the big problem is what Betsy said, and it's the difference between the tide that comes in and out every day on the beach, which can erode the beach and can sometimes cause damage.
And we prepare for it, and that's the yearly cyclic influenza.
But we're looking at a Katrina-like storm surge of patients, and it comes in, it's high volume, it's intense, and it's destructive because it's still water, a virus.
It's not that much more damaging than influenza, about 10 times.
But ultimately, the amount and the timing are devastating our healthcare system.
So, that's why we need to keep people from getting it now.
If they get it in the future, protect it in the future.
But now is the concern.
Yep.
Missy, thank you.
Quick call.
Dennis, Illinois.
Dennis, you're on the Sean Hannity Show.
Dr. Pete Constantino, Betsy McCoy, real quick.
We're short on time.
Very good.
My wife is a flight attendant and flying all over the country, continues to fly.
As we know, airfares, airlines have not shut down yet.
And she's really concerned about the fact that her protective apparel is limited to none.
She can't wear it.
She's not permitted to wear a face mask.
Passengers are coughing in that.
She's still flying.
They say they're cleaning the planes, especially at night, but that happens at night.
Why would they prevent her from wearing a mask and gloves?
That is just ridiculous.
No, she is allowed to wear gloves, but what's happened is she has to bring them from home because everybody's stealing them.
Passengers are actually stealing toilet paper and hand sanitizer off the planes.
I don't care about the toilet paper.
It's a very unsafe time to be a flight attendant.
Very unsafe time.
I'd agree.
I mean, Dr. Peter Constantino, if I'm working for an airlines and they say you can't wear gloves and masks, I'm saying goodbye.
And you got a potential lawsuit down the road.
Yeah, I'm having trouble with that one.
As far as the risk, I wish I could tell you that she wasn't at an increased risk, but my assessment is that she is at a materially increased risk.
When you put droplets in the air, they go six feet to 10 feet minimum, and they can persist for three hours at altitude because it's a very low humidity.
The droplets tend to evaporate much more quickly.
So there is some decreased risk inside an aircraft, but ultimately it's greater than it is on the ground.
And I don't think masks should be prohibited.
As far as gloves, they should all be wearing gloves.
And not to mention the fact that all the surfaces in the airplane are contaminated by the expression of these droplets.
All right, I'm going to let you both go.
You guys have been great.
Dr. Pete Constantino, thank you.
Betsy McCoy, thank you.
All right, Hannity tonight, Nine Eastern on the Fox News channel.
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We have Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Marco Rubio.
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