Why President Trump is at odds with his medical experts over using malaria drugs against Covid-19

One of the most wrenching questions in medicine has been playing out to garish effect in White House press conferences.

The question is this: In an emergency, like the exploding pandemic of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, how much data should doctors require before they use a medicine? President Donald Trump has made clear that he thinks two old malaria drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, should be deployed quickly against the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. But his own lieutenants, the heads of the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have been hesitant.

There’s no question the need for effective treatments is urgent. Cases of Covid-19 are exploding, with more than 24,000 reported nationally and more than 10,000 in New York State alone. Actual numbers may be far higher. Reports say that New York hospitals are full with patients on ventilators who need treatment now.

Hope has emerged around. And a small and preliminary clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine in France circulated widely and stirred excitement on social media (including from the president) — though its findings were hardly definitive about whether the drug would benefit coronavirus patients. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that a study of the drug .