During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday night, Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert said he’ll take hydroxychloriquine to treat COVID-19, despite studies showing President Donald Trump’s “miracle” drug to be ineffective and even dangerous.
“My doctor and I are all in,” Gohmert told host Sean Hannity (video above), hours after news broke that he had tested positive for the virus. “And I got a text just before I came on from a dear friend, [a] doctor, who just found out he had it, and he said he started a HCQ [hydroxychloroquine] regimen, too.
“So zinc, erythromycin, and hydroxychloroquine,” Gohmert added, “and that will start just in the next day or two.”
Gohmert, a staunch anti-masker, suggested earlier Wednesday that he may have contracted the virus because he began wearing a face covering more often in the last few weeks.
More from the New York Times: Smiling in a video recorded in his Capitol Hill office, he declared he had probably gotten the “Wuhan virus” because he had started wearing a mask over the past week or two — not despite it. Mr. Gohmert’s use of the term flew in the face of warnings from medical historians and public health experts that associating a pandemic with a particular ethnic group can lead to discrimination. And his theory for how he contracted the virus contradicted the overwhelming consensus of medical experts that wearing a mask is one of the most effective ways to limit the spread of the disease. … An aide to Mr. Gohmert sent an extraordinary email to Politicoafter it broke the news of Mr. Gohmert’s diagnosis suggesting that the congressman’s entire staff had been ordered to continue going to work amid the pandemic in order to be an example of how the nation could safely reopen, and that those who wore masks had been berated for doing so. Many lawmakers have directed staff aides to work from home, and have instructed those who come in person to wear a mask at all times.
In response to Gohmert testing positive for COVID-19, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she will require all House members and aides to wear masks on the floor. Meanwhile, several members who had contact with Gohmert announced they will self-quarantine. Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly tested negative for coronavirus on Wednesday, one day after he was seen in close proximity to Gohmert, with neither wearing a mask.
