The short of it: hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in a small study showed significantly decreased viral load and shortened time to resolution aka the virus cannot replicate and people get better a lot faster with it. Bayer and teva (pharmaceutical manufacturers) donated millions of tablets of HydroxyChloroquine to the US to treat it.
HydroxyChloriquine is an old medicine used to treat malaria, it's super cheap and available. It blocks the virus from replicating and from entering the cell (so potentially can be used for prophylaxis). azithromycin most likely helps because it decreases the inflammation in the lungs (my guess since there's no reason given from what I saw but have to reread it). Part of the problem with sars, which this virus causes just a different one than the sars in the 2000s, is it causes a massive immune response and inflammation which leads to not getting enough oxygen. Azithromycin decreases inflammation in the lungs and presumably is helping with this
The short of it: hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in a small study showed significantly decreased viral load and shortened time to resolution aka the virus cannot replicate and people get better a lot faster with it. Bayer and teva (pharmaceutical manufacturers) donated millions of tablets of HydroxyChloroquine to the US to treat it.
HydroxyChloriquine is an old medicine used to treat malaria, it's super cheap and available. It blocks the virus from replicating and from entering the cell (so potentially can be used for prophylaxis). azithromycin most likely helps because it decreases the inflammation in the lungs (my guess since there's no reason given from what I saw but have to reread it). Part of the problem with sars, which this virus causes just a different one than the sars in the 2000s, is it causes a massive immune response and inflammation which leads to not getting enough oxygen. Azithromycin decreases inflammation in the lungs and presumably is helping with this