COVID-19 General Information

Currently, there is no cure for COVID-19. However, some strategies may be employed to reduce disease severity. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends staying home, drinking plenty of fluids, and isolating yourself away from other people in your home to prevent spreading the coronavirus to them. Additionally, the CDC recommends resting while monitoring your symptoms and taking over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to reduce fever. If symptoms become more severe, contact your health care provider immediately. Severe symptoms of COVID-19 that present a medical emergency include:

• Trouble breathing
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• New confusion
• Inability to wake or stay awake
• Pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone

If your symptoms are severe enough to require additional medical care or if you become hospitalized due to COVID-19, your treating health care provider may recommend treatment to reduce the severity of your symptoms. The FDA has approved or granted EUA for the following treatments, which can reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and reduce disease mortality:

• Paxlovid (ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir) is an oral antiviral medication that is available to high-risk patients. Paxlovid is a pill that is taken twice per day for five consecutive days. For this treatment to be effective, it must be initiated as soon as possible after symptoms first appear. Paxlovid has significant drug interactions, which requires a patient’s treating health care provider to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of their current medications to identify potentially dangerous drug-drug interactions before prescribing Paxlovid. The COVID-19 treatment guidelines contain a list of medications that are known to interact with Paxlovid.
  • The FDA has granted EUA for the use of Paxlovid in non-hospitalized adult and pediatric patients over the age of 12 who have mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and who are at high risk of disease progression.
  • In limited situations, pharmacists are authorized to prescribe Paxlovid directly to patients.
• Lagevrio (molnupiravir) is an oral antiviral medication that is available to high-risk patients. Lagevrio is a pill that is taken twice per day for five consecutive days. For this treatment to be effective, it must be initiated as soon as possible after symptoms first appear. The FDA has limited the availability of this treatment due to concerns that it has the potential to cause DNA mutations. However, the FDA has concluded that Lagevrio has a low risk of causing such mutations.
  • The FDA has granted EUA for the use of Lagevrio in non-hospitalized adult patients who have mild-to-moderate COVID-19, who are at high risk of disease progression, and who do not have access to alternative antiviral treatments because they are unavailable or clinically inappropriate. 
• Veklury (remdesivir) is an antiviral treatment that is administered by intravenous infusion or injection at a hospital or infusion center. For this treatment to be effective, it must be administered within seven days of symptoms first appearing.
  • The FDA has approved Veklury for the treatment of non-hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and for hospitalized patients.
  • The FDA has granted EUA for the use of Veklury in certain non-hospitalized and hospitalized pediatric COVID-19 patients.
• Monoclonal antibodies (anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAbs) are antibody treatments that are produced in a laboratory and administered by intravenous infusion at a hospital or infusion center. Monoclonal antibody treatments work by restoring, enhancing, or imitating the body’s natural immune response against viral pathogens. For this treatment to be effective, it must be administered within seven days of symptoms first appearing. The effectiveness of monoclonal antibody treatments fluctuates depending on the COVID-19 variant they are used against. The FDA has historically amended the availability of these treatments to ensure that the available monoclonal antibody treatments are effective against the strains of COVID-19 that are currently circulating.
  • The FDA has granted EUA for the use of monoclonal antibodies in non-hospitalized adult patients who have mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and who are at high risk of progressing to severe disease.
  • Monoclonal antibody treatments are not a substitute for vaccination.
  • Monoclonal antibodies can be effective for reducing disease severity in patients with severely compromised immune systems. However, this treatment approach could result in viral mutations that are resistant to treatment. Additional research is needed to assess this risk.
• Convalescent plasma is an antibody treatment that is made from the blood plasma of patients who have successfully recovered from COVID-19. When administered to patients with active COVID-19, the antibodies in convalescent plasma can help suppress the viral infection.
  • The FDA has granted EUA for the use of Convalescent plasma in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who are immunosuppressed or who are receiving immunosuppressive treatment.
• Corticosteroids, such as dexamethasone, are anti-inflammatory medications that are prescribed to treat a variety of conditions. Corticosteroids may improve clinical outcomes and reduce disease severity for hospitalized COVID-19 patients who require supplemental oxygen. Corticosteroids accomplish this by reducing systemic inflammation that can lead to lung injury and multi-system organ dysfunction.
  • There is insufficient evidence to support the use of inhaled corticosteroids for the treatment of COVID-19.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published treatment guidelines for patients with COVID-19. These guidelines include up-to-date information on a variety of treatment options, including experimental therapies that have not yet been approved for the treatment of COVID-19. The New York Times also maintains a treatment tracker that lists the available treatments for COVID-19.