AHN doctor discusses chloroquine and stay-at-home order in Pa.

Gov. Tom Wolf has issued a stay-at-home order for residents of Allegheny and seven other Pennsylvania counties. With covid-19 spreading and the situation likely to get worse before it gets better, the Trib invited Allegheny Health Network emergency physician Dr. Arvind Venkat to address why this order is necessary.

Dr. Venkat also talks about whether AHN has enough masks and ventilators, and what to make of drugs such as remdesivir and chloroquine, touted as potential treatments for covid-19.

Here are some of the highlights from the video interview.

Question: The governor is saying stay at home unless someone’s life depends on your leaving. There are those who are wondering if this is really necessary and if so, why?

Answer: The experience in Italy, New York and Washington State, northern California indicates that we need to be very serious about increasing our social distancing. This may seem like an extreme measure but it seems to be what has worked in other places and what has worked definitively in China. So, unfortunately I think that these are the measures that we need to take at this time to reduce the spread of this disease.

Q: Are we getting any closer to having an anti-viral drug that can treat the disease? Is remdesivir, which has been in the spotlight, a viable answer here?

A: There are clinical trials that are in progress right now. They’ve been as rapidly rolled out as I’ve seen in any circumstance but we don’t have the definitive answers yet. I completely understand that the general public wants fast answers but we have to avoid harm. We need to avoid doing anything where we put at risk the general public. That’s why these clinical trials are so important. We need to avoid rushing out to take treatments that are based on anecdote as opposed to on scientific evidence.