That's for sure. There are an awful lot of marginal-quality articles on covid-19 coming out, moslty with the purpose of getting the data out there. It's a mixed blessing. We see a lot of numbers for things, but there are unexplained gaps in the data that make it impossible to tell what the "things" actually are, which makes them ripe for misinterpretation when they hit the popular media.
Dr P's paper is not just a data dump; it actually puts out an interesting and significant hypothesis and will be subject to greater scrutiny before getting published.