Is it more important to treat the viral infection or the CSS in COVID-19 patients?
COVID-19 treatment entails 3 main approaches: 1) anti-viral; 2) systemic anti-inflammatory and immunologic; 3) symptomatic and supportive treatment. The patient’s viral load detected at the onset of COVID-19 is associated with mortality. Consequently, SARS-CoV-2-specific anti-viral treatments, once licensed, are expected to be central to COVID-19 treatment. Systemic anti-inflammatory treatments are essential in severe COVID-19 cases with CSS as the latter is a decisive risk factor for mortality, multiorgan failure, ARDS and disseminated intravascular coagulation. For these reasons, COVID-19 treatments must induce quick viral clearance while precluding systemic inflammatory syndromes.49