I was surprised that steroids were not part of the standard treatment from the beginning. Anyone who has ever had pneumonia knows that they are incredibly effective in reducing inflammation and opening up the airways.

The problem with steroids is that they tamp down the immune system -- so if you're fighting off a virus, you have to gauge the risk that the steroids will allow the virus to take over, vs. the risk that the patient will die from suffocation from the mini-blood clots that we know now form on the alveoli, and also from the overabundance of fluids that your body rushes to the lungs to try to kill off the virus.

But like I said -- I was surprised that they didn't use steroids on the really sick patients. It's a logical step when dealing with lung problems and I wonder how many people died because this was not standard of care before.

What we need is a drug that can stop the inflammation without harming the immune system. And if it had anti-viral and anti-bacterial efficacy too, that would be ideal. I wonder where we could find such a drug?