Governor Andrew Cuomo in a radio interview with Sean Hannity on Friday said he is hopeful an anti-malaria drug will make some gains in fighting the symptoms of COVID-19.
"I'm an optimist," Cuomo said. "I'm hopeful about the drugs and that's why we'll try it here in New York as soon as we get it."
Cuomo has spoken with President Donald Trump about the drugs, chloroquine, and hydroxychloroquine, including right before he phoned into Hannity's radio show. The drugs, though, remain unproven in the United States and their success has been reported by doctors in China, South Korea, and France.
A range of drugs are being studied as a potential vaccine to the virus, but it's likely they are months away from being approved at the very least. New York has dramatically increased its testing capacity in the last several weeks and has the highest number of confirmed cases in the country.