Fauci, Navarro at odds over value of drug
Controversy intensified Monday over the value of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug frequently touted by President Donald Trump as a crucial tool in the battle to save the lives of COVID-19 patients.
Peter Navarro, director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, vigorously defended the drug in a CNN interview Monday, one day after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had suggested the data on the drug was “at best suggestive.”
“I would have two words for you,” Navarro said when told of Fauci’s reticence. “Second opinion.”
Navarro pointed to a study from Wuhan, China, that showed generally positive outcomes from the use of the drug. FEMA has almost 30 million tablets in a warehouse that will be dispensed so physicians can decide whether or not to use them.
“There are a lot of doctors on one side, a lot of doctors on the other side,” Navarro said. “We are at war, and we are trying to make sure that as few people die as possible.”
U.S. stocks race higher
U.S. stocks had their biggest rally in nearly two weeks Monday on signs of a slowdown in coronavirus deaths and new cases in some of the hardest-hit areas throughout the world.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1,627.46 points to close at 22,679.99. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 7% to end at 2,663.68, its best percentage gain since March 24 after recording a third week of losses in the past four on Friday. All 11 sectors in the broad index were higher, led by gains in the technology, utility and materials sectors. – Jessica Menton
Cuomo: Deaths may be leveling off in N.Y.
The number of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York state declined again and deaths may be leveling off, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. Cuomo also said he would ask President Donald Trump for permission to use the 1,000-bed USNS Comfort for COVID-19 patients since there is little demand for beds for other illnesses. The Comfort anchored in New York’s harbor with a mission to treat non-virus patients so hospitals could concentrate on COVID patients.
Cuomo also said demand for hospital beds and ventilators may not reach numbers previously projected if residents continue to follow social distancing and other guidelines.
“There is a real danger in getting overconfident,” Cuomo said at his daily news conference. “This is an enemy that we have underestimated from day one and we have paid the price dearly.”
Navy secretary blasts ousted commander
The acting secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, told the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt their ousted commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, was either “too naive or too stupid” to be in command. Modly said Crozier may have intentionally leaked to the media a memo in which he warned about the coronavirus spreading aboard the aircraft carrier and urged action to save his sailors, according to a transcript of the remarks obtained by CNN.
“It was a betrayal,” Modly said. “And I can tell you one other thing: Because he did that, he put it in the public’s forum and it is now a big controversy in Washington, D.C.”
The ship is anchored in Guam and most of it’s 2,700 sailors have been removed.