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>All hospitalized patients received as best available therapy the same standard care, (per hospital protocol), of a combination of hydroxychloroquine (400 mg every 12 hours on the first day, and 200 mg every 12 hours for the following 5 days), azithromycin (500 mg orally for 5 days.

Fascinating how hydroxychloroquine is routinely used and considered standard of care in most countries where the drug has not been politicized.

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>The best available treatment that at the beginning of the outbreak in our hospital, included the use of hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin therapy [23,24,26]. However, taking into consideration more recent data on the safety and efficacy of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in small randomized clinical trials, case series, and observational studies this treatment is no longer considered effective [32] in treating COVID-19.

calling it the "standard of care" in the present tense is very disingenuous. it was briefly considered to be effective at the beginning of the outbreak. it was determined relatively quickly that it was not actually an effective treatment. this has nothing to do with politics.

Doesn't that have more to do with the timing of the study than anything else? Studies showing that HCQ isn't effective didn't begin to emerge until June.

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