Well, I'm going to add some hopeful news here. I'm sure many have already seen some of the promising news on Remdesivir, the antiviral originally developed for use against Ebola (which failed, unfortunately). Looks like the results of the clinical trials are looking good, so good in fact the FDA is fast tracking it's use for COVID-19. The official study data hasn't been released yet so it's unclear the severity of illness for those patients enrolled in the clinical trials. Important because an earlier study from China showed disappointing results, but they tried the drug only on the most severe patients. Since anti-virals work by stopping the virus from replicating in the body, changes are those already in critical condition were too far gone for Remdesivir to help.
I worked for the Roche Pharma research lab when they developed the antiviral, Tamiflu. It's some pretty fascinating and exciting science. Your risk of complications such as pneumonia are greatly reduced and your symptoms are much less severe. (In our family's experience with Tamiflu, fever is gone within 24 hours of starting the drug, 72 hours later it's like you were never sick).
If Remdesivir works similarly against COVID-19 this could be a real game changer. Too bad it's intraveneous only because if it were pill form it would be easier to dispense for prophylactic use in those exposed but not symptomatic.
Researchers released some good news about a possible treatment for coronavirus Wednesday -- evidence that the experimental drug remdesivir might help patients recover more quickly from the infection.
www.cnn.com