This article is about a watershed moment in COVID-19 management. It is brought into focus by the TGA closing down the legal use of IVM for COVID-19, while Merck promotes an inadequately documented, potentially dangerous and less effective (but patented and very expensive) “lethal-mutant” anti-viral.
South Africa’s excess mortality trends may shed further light on the efficacy of various interventions. Upon publicly announcing its intentions to secure an HCQ supply, overall excess deaths trended negative, as is often the case following a surge as most surges in excess mortality take place among the most frail who would otherwise make up a substantial portion of those who might have died in upcoming weeks or months. However, excess deaths did not revert particularly sharply after cessation of HCQ usage or upon introduction of vaccines. Each gave way to new waves of mortality.
