The controversy surrounding use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID would illustrate the significant risk of allowing critical scientific questions to linger, where the desire for a swift therapeutic solution and the need for public health rigor collided to produce some unfortunate challenges. Initially, there was some belief among doctors, based on small studies, that hydroxychloroquine might provide a benefit. So the drug was heavily used in the first several months of the pandemic. In April, the majority of hospitalized patients in New York were receiving the therapy. However, subsequent
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