Pierce County leader wrong to tout controversial COVID-19 drug at taxpayer expense
Jim McCune isn’t a doctor or a public health expert. He’s a politician, specifically a Pierce County Council member representing East Pierce County.
The Graham Republican shouldn’t use his office to talk up an anti-malaria drug, championed by President Trump and allies on the far right, as an effective treatment for COVID-19. Not when the drug is controversial, unproven and has caused serious reservations among federal, state and local health officials.
What McCune does on his own time with his own money is his business. The term-limited District 3 councilman is running for state Senate this year. Candidate McCune will surely have many opinions on public policy, including the coronavirus crisis.
But McCune was foolish to use a taxpayer-funded newsletter to promulgate a random “success story” involving a New York physician’s use of hydroxychloroquine. How is this relevant to his work on the County Council?
McCune told us Tuesday he was simply sharing “an uplifting story” of people being healed from terrible COVID-19 symptoms. But he also acknowledged the political component, saying the story was a good fit for his conservative, Trump-loving district.
The incident underscores the need for local officials to produce unified pandemic messaging, backed by solid science and their own health department, to distribute to the county’s nearly 900,000 residents.
Each of the seven County Council members is allotted $28,600 in the county’s two-year budget for “mailing,” which covers everything from newsletters and postcards to boosted Facebook posts and videos. Members are accountable for their own content.
McCune ventured into coronavirus politics in his spring 2020 newsletter: “It is encouraging to read about breakthroughs, like the success story of Dr. Vladimir Zelensky in New York. So far, he has successfully treated 699 coronavirus patients with 100% success using a cocktail of hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin (Z-pak), an antibiotic for secondary infections, and zinc sulfate. The symptom of shortness of breath was resolved within four to six hours of treatment!”
Orting resident Virginia Myers was outraged. She wrote a letter to the TNT, correctly noting the drug cocktail is unproven, undocumented and not peer reviewed. “This is reckless and wildly irresponsible,” Myers wrote, adding that McCune has no medical training and “must publicly renounce” his support for the drug.
We’re glad she brought it to our attention, though we wouldn’t go quite as far as she did. McCune doesn’t pretend to be a doctor, and politicians are entitled to opinions. As this virus baffles epidemiologists and exacts a devastating global toll, it’s natural for people to grasp onto signs of hope, from remdesivir treatment to antibody testing.
In the TNT, we recently published an op-ed by a local healthcare industry worker calling for health officials to be more open-minded about hydroxychloroquine. Right next to it, we published a counterpoint from Dr. Anthony Chen, director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, explaining why they rely on proven strategies rather than miracle drugs. While Chen acknowledged some positive anecdotal reports about hydroxychloroquine, he noted other reports are less upbeat, indicating side effects such as heart rhythm problems.
McCune didn’t offer such balance. He didn’t consult local health officials, or take the large grain of salt prescribed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump’s infectious disease guru.
The risk of perpetuating false hope? Some people have sought dangerous compounds, like fish tank cleaners, to try to cure or stave off infection. In late April, the FDA warned against shopping for the drug at online pharmacies, saying it’s not safe or effective.
In short, McCune got in over his head, spreading the Donald Trump/ Rudy Giuliani brand of pop medicine.
Worse, he did it at county taxpayer expense.
There are far better ways to spend that money. The Pierce County Council is reviewing a county-wide postcard to circulate information about the fight against COVID-19, focusing on resources available locally.
A clear, coordinated message based on science is what the public needs right now — not rogue communications from politicians eyeing their next public office.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 8:00 AM.