"Every South Dakotan who has COVID-19 can have that conversation with their physician", Noem said. "Am I a candidate, am I a good option to receive hydroxychloroquine?"
All citizens of the state will have the option both as inpatients and outpatients to participate in the trial of the medication, she said.
"We can treat up to 100,000 people with the amount of drugs that we have been able to secure in the state of South Dakota. The federal government has stepped up and given us everything we need", Noem said.
Noem said there would be two different components to the clinical trials: First a clinical trial for patients who have already tested positive for hydroxychloroquine and second, a clinical trial that has been randomised for health workers who run a high risk of contracting the virus.
China and France have already carried studies about the effectiveness of the use of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19 patients and have reported very good results. France's leading epidemiologist Didier Raoult has particularly praised hydroxychloroquine - in combination with azithromycin and zinc - as a very effective and inexpensive medication in dealing with COVID-19.
More than 572,100 COVID-19 infections have been registered in the US, with over 23,000 dying, according to Johns Hopkins University.
