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by Nav_Panel 2288 days ago
It's an antibiotic. Severe patients will be dealing with secondary (bacterial) infections, so it makes sense to use both. But on its own, I expect it would have little effect.
2 comments

It’s already commonly used as both treatment and profylactic (in healthy risk group patients) for viral pneumonia. Why it works for I think is still not entirely clear.

Being an antibiotic is also convenient because many times you would also get antibiotics to prevent a secondary infection from bacteria.

It’s not exactly a miracle cure (like an antibiotic is against a bacterial pneumonia), but doctors have few tools when it comes to viral pneumonia, so even something that helps a little is welcome.

As I understand it - it interferes with mRNA transcription. Given that COVID-19 is RNA that may be useful.