Trump says he'll stop taking hydroxychloroquine in "a day or two"
President Trump will soon be ending his course of hydroxychloroquine, he told reporters Wednesday.
"I think the regimen finishes in a day or two — yeah, I think it's two days, two days," he said during a meeting with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and Kansas Governor Laura Kelly.
Mr. Trump revealed on Monday that he's been taking the antimalaria drug, along with zinc, to try to prevent a COVID-19 infection. The Food and Drug Administration has warned against widespread use, but the White House physician said he felt that the drug's possible benefits outweighed its risks.
"I get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy," the president said Monday. He said at the time that he had been taking a pill "every day" for about a week and a half.
The president has taken heat for his use of the drug, which is largely unproven for preventing or treating the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning against its use outside a clinical setting or trial.
Hutchinson and Kelly were at the White House to discuss the reopening of their states. Hutchinson was optimistic and predicted that Arkansas' sales tax revenue would be down just 5%, rather than the 10% he had projected earlier.
"We're back to work today. All of our retail stores are open; all of our retail establishments totally are open, our gyms are open," Hutchinson said. "Our barbers are open, our restaurants. Now, sure, they have some restrictions — one-third occupancy and things like that." He went on to say that the state was emphasizing social distancing, but still, "we're at work."
The president also said he had spoken with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer about the dam breaches that have caused flooding in central Michigan and the evacuation of 10,000 residents. While Mr. Trump will be in the state Thursday to visit a Ford plant in Ypsilanti, he wasn't planning to visit the flooded area. Though he suggested that he and Whitmer might visit both, he said, "I don't want to get in the way" of cleanup efforts. He promised to visit the affected area "at the appropriate time."
Mr. Trump noted the dam breaches are a "big, big problem" and said he has sent FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to help.
Earlier in the day the president had taken a different tone with Michigan, threatening in a tweet to withhold funding from the state over mail-in voting. During his meeting with Hutchinson and Kelly, the president reiterated his distrust of mail-in voting.
Gaby Ake contributed to this article.