Ivermectin, Z-Pac, & Vit. D can help COVID-19 patients. Fear-mongering with full-face respirator masks is unnecessary.

Question

Ivermectin, Z-Pac, and Vitamin D can help COVID-19 patients. Fear-mongering with full-face respirator masks is unnecessary.

Answer 1

This information is coming from a highly unreliable source, a bluesky post. Additionally the poster does not provide any information about where they are getting this information from. According to the FDA, Ivermectin, a treatment for parasitic worms, is not authorized to treat patients of Covid-19. Self medication, using ivermectin, has resulted in multiple hospitalizations, and is not an effective treatment for Covid-19. Although since the beginning of the pandemic, evaluations on the effectiveness of masking has varied, it is clear that masks are a way to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses by reducing the amount of germs you breathe in. Overall, this claim is ridiculously false.

https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/prevention/masks.html

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/ivermectin-and-covid-19

Answer 2

Using a bluesky post is not a credible source, instead there are studies that have been done exploring the results of ivermectins use as treatment for Covid-19.

study [1] researched the interaction between ivermectin and the main proteins involved in covid cell pathogenesis. The study showed that ivermectin blocked the TMPRSS (transmembrane protease enzyme) from its role of spreading the coronavirus into new human cells. It also did so just as effectively as the other "anti-corona" drugs used in the medical world.

Another study [2], done by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and peer reviewed by Yale, studied treatment early treatment with ivermectin on non-hospitalized Covid-19 patients. This was a double-blind study with a randomized placebo control group. Their study showed that though ivermectin is an anti-parasitic agent, it has anti-viral properties, likely shortening the life of the virus in total. Out of the ivermectin treated group and control group, the ivermectin group had a 2.6x higher chance of receiving a negative test result after 6 days than the placebo group did.

Yes Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug. In fact it was actually so effective it won a nobel prize in 2015 [4]. But since then, it has been widely researched for its anti-viral effects. Though there have been studies that show different levels of effectiveness, there has been no credible research to show that taking safe levels of the drug would be harmful when trying to treat covid-19.

Use of z-pac or azithromycin is not shown to significantly help treat covid-19, though further research could be done [5] Vitamin D is shown to be very crucial for the protection from most viruses so it shouldn't be different with the coronavirus. Throughout the pandemic masks still helped slow the spread of the virus.

[1]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7996102/

[2]https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.31.21258081v1

[3]https://www.cureus.com/articles/111851-regular-use-of-ivermectin-as-prophylaxis-for-covid-19-led-up-to-a-92-reduction-in-covid-19-mortality-rate-in-a-dose-response-manner-results-of-a-prospective-observational-study-of-a-strictly-controlled-population-of-88012-subjects#!/

[4]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7539925/#:~:text=In%20light%20of%20the%20potential,its%20antiviral%20activity%20%5B6%5D.

[5]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7972318/#:~:text=Randomised%20trials%20have%20found%20that,or%20in%20combination%20with%20hydroxychloroquine.