Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling on Thursday called for caution regarding potential drug treatments for COVID-19.

"You can't let politics dictate, what people would like to see dictate," Dowling said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "You've got to let the science dictate, because if you don't, you'll do damage to people."

Dowling, whose 23-hospital system is the largest health-care provider in New York state, said it is OK to be optimistic about the experimental treatments underway, "but you've got to wait until you can prove" that it is effective in treating COVID-19.

In fact, Dowling said he was personally optimistic about some of the trials underway at Northwell Health's hospitals. The health system is working with Regeneron and Gilead Sciences to test the efficacy of existing drugs.

Northwell Health does not have "definitive results yet," Dowling cautioned.

"But I am pretty certain that within the next week or two we're going to find out that one or more of these drugs do make a difference and that would obviously change the landscape when that happens," said Dowling.

The drugs in trial at Northwell Health are Gilead Sciences' remdesivir and sarilumab, which was developed by Regeneron and Sanofi, according to the Long Island Press.

New York has more than 33,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday morning, far more than any other state in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The country as a whole has more than 69,000 cases.