New York Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke positively of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine — which has been touted by the White House — at his daily press briefing Monday, announcing that the state will request an additional supply from the federal government.

The Democratic governor said the drug has “anecdotally” been “effective” in treating COVID-19, explaining that state officials have been given permission to use it in combination with the antibiotic Zithromax in hospitals “at their discretion.” However, he emphasized that official data has not yet been released.

“The tests in the hospital, they’re too short a period of time to get a scientific report,” Cuomo said. “Hospital administrators, doctors want to have a significant data set before they give a formal opinion. Anecdotally, you’ll get suggestions that it has been effective. But we don’t have any official data yet from a hospital or a quote-unquote study, which will take weeks if not months.”

“There has been anecdotal evidence that it is promising; that’s why we’re going ahead,” he added, noting that some patients are unable to take hydroxychloroquine due to their pre-existing conditions or medication regimens.

With Cuomo’s go-ahead, New York will take in a greater supply of the drug from the federal government, allowing the state to lift a 14-day limit currently in place to ensure there is enough for those who need it to treat other health conditions.

President Trump’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine has sparked controversy, with his detractors noting the research on its effectiveness for the coronavirus is limited.

Anecdotally, however, there have been a number of cases of COVID-19 patients whose health has improved after using the drug.

One of the most notable is Michigan State Representative Karen Whitsett of Detroit, a Democrat who credits hydroxychloroquine with saving her life. The lawmaker reportedly felt better mere hours after taking the prescription.

Whitsett recounted on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle that her condition quickly deteriorated around the time she self-quarantined on March 12 after attending her last session of the State House in Lansing. “It took the longest [time] for me to actually be able to get an appointment and getting with my doctor, which was the 18th of March, and then actually getting the COVID test,” she said.

Whitsett originally believed she had contracted pneumonia before testing positive for COVID-19 on March 31. By then, she was feeling worse. “It went from the headaches being severe to fluid building up in my lungs, to sweats breaking out to the cough and my breathing being labored.”

Whitsett suffers from chronic Lyme disease, for which hydroxychloroquine is also used as a treatment, but it never occurred to her that it could also help for the coronavirus until she heard the president extolling its benefits. “If President Trump had not talked about this, it wouldn’t have been something that would be accessible for anyone to be able to get right now,” the Democrat said.

When Whitsett was first admitted to the hospital, Michigan was under an order by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer that prohibited the use of hydroxychloroquine — an order retracted several days later.

“I did have a difficult time, even that day, obtaining the medication because of an order that was put down in my state,” Whitsett recalled on The Ingraham Angle. “And it was on that day, so you can imagine how terrified I was that I had to beg and plead and go through a whole lot to try to get the medication.”

On Tuesday, India, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of hydroxychloroquine, agreed to lift an export ban on the drug after President Trump warned of “retaliation” if they did not do so.

India said they would supply the medication to countries in “appropriate quantities” given the “humanitarian aspects of the pandemic.”

The president’s comments on the drug have even prompted disagreement within the federal government, with White House trade advisor Peter Navarro and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci reportedly at odds over its usefulness.

Fauci has repeatedly pushed back at claims that hydroxychloroquine is effective against coronavirus.

“The data are really just, at best, suggestive. There have been cases that show there may be an effect, and there are others to show there’s no effect,” he recently told CBS. “So I think in terms of science, I don’t think we could definitively say it works.”

Whitsett, meanwhile, attributes her rapid recovery to the drug and says the president has a key role to play in making it more available to the public.

“It has a lot to do with the president … bringing it up,” she told the Detroit Free Press. “He is the only person who has the power to make it a priority.”

Photo: AP Images

Luis Miguel is a marketer and writer whose journalistic endeavors shed light on the Deep State, the immigration crisis, and the enemies of freedom. Follow his exploits on Facebook, Twitter, Bitchute, and at luisantoniomiguel.com.