C1 My Turn: Open door to use of Covid treatments

Dear fellow Idahoans, it feels like just yesterday morning we were thankfully enjoying life here in the beautiful Northwest. Sadly, today most of us can’t escape the worrisome echoes of the COVID-19 virus. It’s disquieting to imagine that to date, over 186,000 Americans have perished from this viral enemy. Here in the Northwest thus far 3,000 friends and family have passed and to date we have reported over 146,800 infections, most of which recently are from college communities. Sadly, over 97% of the deaths are retired senior citizens, many of whom were decorated American veterans.

Why is our national and especially local leadership continuing to bury their partisan heads in the sand allowing American citizens to die needlessly from COVID-19 when there are proven medical treatments occurring in many countries including America, reporting remarkable documented successes? One of the more promising therapies is the COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Infusion treatment. Here in the Northwest, Swedish Health Services partnering with Bloodworks Northwest began their research in April and are enjoying notable success. Washington’s Multicare Health Systems and the Mayo Clinic are as well reporting several months of positive results. Dr. Michele Donato, Chief of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunotherapy at the John Theurer Cancer Center announced in March a phenomenal recovery rate treating COVID-19 patients with this neutralizing antibody plasma treatment. On April 4th her team received FDA approval to continue their research. As well, Dr. Arturo Casadevall and Dr. Michael Joiner (Mayo Clinic) and their treatment coalition of doctors are reporting “remarkable success” with the convalescent plasma therapy.

Another well-documented successful treatment is the Hydroxychloroquine/Azithromycin (Z-PAC) therapy. In addition to President Trump’s successful treatment and endorsement, scores of celebrated physicians throughout the world are utilizing this therapy to save lives including; French Physician Dr. Didier Raoult, renowned Rheumatologist Dr. Daniel Wallace, ER Physician Dr. Jake Deutsch, ER Specialist Dr. Anthony Cardillo, celebrated ERS Dr. Ivette Lozano and Dr. Stella Immanuel, the President’s COVID-19 Doctor, who successfully treated over 350 COVID patients, most as outpatients and some with diabetes and high blood pressure.

Additionally, the medical community was astounded by a recent Share Care Health Data Services documented report that of the 14,000 patients taking Hydroxychloroquine for Lupus, only a minute percentage contracted the COVID-19 virus. A growing number of authorities believe the drug acts as a prophylactic against the virus which was the president’s objective for taking the treatment. Additionally, medical authorities throughout the globe are noting that Africa has one of the world’s lowest death ratios and are attributing the data to the decades of Hydroxychloroquine treatments for malaria.

Ironically, of the countless bureaucrats and medical pundits who were furtively treated with these therapies, many are now standing at political podiums recommending months of controlled studies before we the average Americans can receive the same treatments they effectively received. To quote a senior Army veteran I met while shopping at a Post Falls supermarket, “What in the world is going on in America … allowing politics and 'big pharma' to overrule proven science has made our local hospitals, doctors and pharmacies afraid to prescribe these same treatments they previously prescribed for over 60 years which is escalating hospitalizations and mortalities!”

My dear fellow Idahoans, it’s time to demand from your practitioners your “Right to Try” the treatments you choose, a privilege granted to us on May 30, 2018, by our president.

Most important, we Idahoans need to stop downplaying the virus and refusing to wear masks even when employees of businesses we patronize don masks to protect us. It has been scientifically proven wearing the mask will save tens of thousands of lives and help bring about the economic recovery we all desire.

As well, we need to exercise our power of the ballot to encourage our governor to initiate policies to support unbiased accessibility of elective treatments, greatly expand comprehensive testing, establish containment mandates and encourage law enforcement to perform their due-diligence of enforcing the mandates.

Be safe and well, pray for others and help where you can …

God Bless,

Julius Pekar