See update below:

Nevada’s Democratic governor has banned the use of chloroquine to treat the coronavirus. Per US News and World Report:

Sisolak signed an emergency order earlier Tuesday barring the use of anti-malaria drugs for someone who has the coronavirus. The order restricting chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine came after President Donald Trump touted the medication as a treatment and falsely stated that the Food and Drug Administration had just approved the use of chloroquine to treat patients infected with coronavirus. Sisolak said in a statement that there’s no consensus among experts or Nevada doctors that the drugs can treat people with COVID-19.

Update via CNN:

The regulation bans the prescription of the drugs to treat Covid-19. However, in a follow-up tweet, Sisolak noted that the emergency regulation does not apply to doctors who order the drugs for coronavirus treatment in an inpatient setting.

"In other words, if a doctor in a hospital or emergency room setting wants to prescribe these drugs to treat a patient diagnosed with COVID-19, he or she is still free to do so," Sisolak tweeted.

If the medications are prescribed by a doctor for outpatient use, a code will be tagged on the drugs which will limit users to a 30-day supply only, according to a statement from Sisolak.

It’s not as if patients are given an experimental therapy against their will. Patients should always be informed about potential risks and benefits for any treatment being proposed so they and their doctor can determine the best path forward. Doctors, unlike the experts in their labs, practice the art of medicine as they treat each unique patient, facing myriad challenges and situations that require judgment calls.

Such judgment calls are being made throughout New York as Governor Cuomo ordered a large supply of chloroquine for doctors to use as they scramble to treat patients with the virus.

In contrast, the governor of Nevada has now made it impossible for people who live in his state to have the option of chloroquine under compassionate use. That’s nuts.

I’ve had personal experience with having to partner with my doctor to use treatments outside of the mainstream in order to get well. It’s a terrifying position to be in as both patient and doctor feel a sense of desperation. One might say that such an urgent feeling might cloud one’s judgment, and perhaps so. But when you’re up against the wall, you have nothing to lose as Trump often says. And while that’s not exactly true because, obviously, you could lose a lot if the treatment does harm, the fact remains that without trying something that seems reasonable, your fate may well be sealed.

Meanwhile, as the Governor of Nevada bans the use of chloroquine and despite the relentless mockery of President Trump for feeling hopeful about its potential, doctors across America are now stockpiling it along with other medications that might be effective against the coronavirus.

Oh, and did I mention that they’re stockpiling it for themselves and their families?

And it’s not just one or two disreputable doctors here or there. It’s a lot of them. The New York Times reports:

Doctors are hoarding medications touted as possible coronavirus treatments by writing prescriptions for themselves and family members, according to pharmacy boards in states across the country.

The stockpiling has become so worrisome in Idaho, Kentucky, Ohio, Nevada, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Texas that the boards in those states have issued emergency restrictions or guidelines on how the drugs can be dispensed at pharmacies. More states are expected to follow suit.

“This is a real issue, and it is not some product of a few isolated bad apples,” said Jay Campbell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy.

[snip]

The prescriptions, she said, were being written by doctors for themselves and their family members, often in large quantities with refills.

Welcome to Surrealville, USA.