Exactly, me too.. And it was not even prescription, it was OTC... Now somehow it's become overnight a poison that will kill you dead - I'm guessing because it's cheap as dirt. Tin foil hat on: I'm finding interesting that a lot of countries that use this against malaria (like vietnam but some african countries too) have low rates of COVID infections (considering their crappy medical system)... Can't shake the idea there's something there, but I'll wait for the final results of the tests...

D:
It’s in the dose. Side effects are dose dependent.

For malaria it’s 150 mg/week.

For COVID it’s 400-650 mg/day for 5-7 days depending on study. It has a half life of 55 days, so the dose really builds up.

American heart association study

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCEP.120.008662
29 Apr 2020

Conclusions
In the largest reported cohort of COVID-19 patients to date treated with chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine {plus minus} azithromycin, no instances of TdP or arrhythmogenic death were reported. Although use of these medications resulted in QT prolongation, clinicians seldomly needed to discontinue therapy.

Dr Zev's protocol

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.02.20080036v1

...an increased frequency of being discharged home (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.12-2.09) reduction in mortality or transfer to hospice remained significant (OR 0.449, 95% CI 0.271-0.744).

Conclusion: This study provides the first in vivo evidence that zinc sulfate in combination with hydroxychloroquine may play a role in therapeutic management for COVID-19.

Lupus patients take 400mg+ a day also, and most never have any issues with hydroxychloroquine.
Minimal side effects ever noticed.

Advil has side effects. All drugs do in one way or another.

Or that zinc alone may be helpful - the HCQ might be doing nothing.