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Aside from these results, what is the proposed mechanism of benefit here?

And why are we expecting a mechanism with hydroxychloroquine against this virus when essentially no small molecule therapies are effective against viruses in general?

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Hydroxychloroquine is an immune suppressant and may help reduce the cytokine storm effect. How that interacts with the "you have to start it early" issue is unclear to me.

And it might keep you from getting malaria while you have COVID19.

The way HCQ is by accumulating in cells. It inhibits the replication of viruses by interfering with endosome/lysosome trafficking or viral protein maturation during virion maturation. (basically stops the virus from replicating)

and, correct me if i'm wrong, zinc helps

take it with a grain of salt but https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/zelenko-669-coronavirus-pa...

No grain of salt needed, the chloroquine is a zinc ionophore.

With the right grain of salt, you get zinc. Suggestions: zinc acetate, zinc chloride, zinc citrate

"The way HCQ is by accumulating in cells."

The original study that set off this flap ran for a period of 6 days. I don't know that 6 days is long enough for significant accumulation. Beyond that, unless someone has published something significant that I haven't seen, any hypothesis on the drug's effect on coronavirus is pure speculation.

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