Many Internet users have reported to Decryptors video clips circulating on the web, where we see a doctor, accompanied by other doctors wearing white coats, claiming that hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19, or that masks do not work.
No one should be sick. There is a cure for this virus
, she says, referring to hydroxychloroquine, before adding that you don’t need to wear a mask
.
Where did this video come from?
The excerpt comes from a press conference hosted by a group called America’s Frontline Doctors. This is the network Breitbart, in the United States, which broadcast the press conference live on Facebook on Monday.
The video caused an uproar after it exploded in popularity, racking up tens of thousands of views in just a few hours Monday night. US President Donald Trump and his son Donald Jr. both promoted them on Twitter before the social network deleted their tweets. Twitter temporarily suspended Donald Jr.’s account on Tuesday for breaking its COVID-19 disinformation rules.
Facebook and YouTube followed suit, in turn removing this video from their platforms. However, excerpts from the video are still circulating there. Other copies also exist on alternative platforms, or are conveyed in private messages or in encrypted applications, such as WhatsApp or Telegram.
Why this is wrong
Hydroxychloroquine is not considered to be an effective treatment for COVID-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, this treatment has been put forward, in particular by Professor Didier Raoult, of the Marseille University Hospital Institute for Infectious Diseases. The latter has been asserting since the end of February that this drug, prescribed with azithromycin, constitutes an effective treatment against COVID-19. However, his studies were severely criticized. (New window).
Dr Didier Raoult
Photo : Getty Images / Gérard Julien
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Since then, more and more studies show that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment against COVID-19. In fact, last week, another double-blind study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (New window) a determined that in hospitalized patients with mild or moderate symptoms of COVID-19, the use of hydroxychloroquine, with or without azithromycin, did not improve their clinical condition after 15 days, compared to conventional treatments
.
The World Health Organization (WHO) ceased clinical trials in early July.
Preliminary results show that hydroxychloroquine or the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir does not or very little reduce the mortality of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, compared to standard care
, she announced in a statement.
Contrary to what the doctor claims in the video, the drug also does not seem to work as a preventive treatment.
With regard to the wearing of the mask, there again, more and more studies (New window) demonstrate that it is effective in preventing the spread of the virus.
For example, a study published in the journal Health Affairs (New window) in June looked at infection rates in 15 US states, as well as Washington DC, before and after the requirement to wear a mask in public. The study observed a drop in infection rates after the implantation of this obligation and estimates that wearing the mask prevented between 230,000 and 450,000 cases of COVID-19 between the end of March and the end of May.
Who is the doctor behind these claims?
The doctor seen taking the mike is Dr. Stella Immanuel, a doctor and pastor from Texas.
As several American media have noted (New window), it is not at its first controversial statements. In her religious sermons, she has already stated, among other things, that gynecological diseases are caused by sex with demons, or that there is extraterrestrial DNA in some vaccines.
She claims to have treated more than 350 patients with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, but has never published a clinical trial to this effect.
Who are America’s Frontline Doctors?
This group seems to have been created recently. It intersects with several controversial figures, mostly doctors.
Monday’s press conference was hosted by the Tea Party Patriots group, according to the NBC Network (New window). This political organization has raised more than 24 million US dollars since 2014 to try to elect candidates for Donald Trump’s Republican Party. This group denounces in particular the health measures put in place to counter the pandemic.
America’s Frontline Doctors claims are in line with several statements by President Trump, who has promoted hydroxychloroquine and campaigned to end the lockdown. At the press conference, the medics were introduced by Ralph Norman, a Republican representative from South Carolina.
One of the group’s doctors, Dr James Todaro, has not treated patients since 2018 (New window) and now appears to be promoting cryptocurrencies. It is also recognized as having played a leading role in the promotion of hydroxychloroquine from the start of the pandemic.
Another, Dr. Simone Gold, is a Fox News contributor and has previously produced video content for the Tea Party Patriots group and is active in conservative political circles in the United States.
As the American science communicator and surgeon David Gorski points out, the fact that these people are primary care physicians does not automatically give them authority in terms of epidemiology.
[Leur expérience de travail] does not necessarily give them knowledge of how certain treatments work (or don’t work) to treat a disease. Their personal clinical experience can be misleading, especially in the case of emergency room physicians, since many of them do not do long-term follow-up with their patients beyond the emergency room visit.
, he wrote in his blog (New window).
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