I mentioned a while back that Trump may have been right about hydroxychloroquine, but actually he wasn't. He was promoting it as if it could cure the seriously ill. It can't. Like EVERY OTHER ANTIVIRAL ON EARTH it has to be given as early as possible. Instead of ERs sending Covod-19 patients home until they develop pneumonia, they should be sending those patents home with hydroxychloroquine and zinc. I bet a lot fewer would come back to the hospital with pneumonia.

They have some good antivirals for influenza, and they act the same way. Given as early as possible, fewer serious cases. Given late after the virus has already replicated like crazy, they do nothing. None of them are anti-virus. They interfere with viral replication. Once a new virus is assembled, the drug has no effect on it.

This is very different from antibiotics. Bacteria are alive and have all sorts of critical processes that have to happen or they die. Every one of those is a potential weak spot some antibiotic could attack. Viruses are not really alive: They just replicate, like a computer worm that does nothing but send out more worms. The only weak spots are stages in that replication.

Educating anyone benefits everyone.