Letter to the Editor

Evidence-Based Guidelines Should Be Used To Inform COVID-19 Management

Thomas L. Holland
DOI: 10.1128/AAC.02501-20

LETTER

A recent commentary by McCullough (1) includes a recommended coronavirus disease (COVID) treatment algorithm that is outdated and parts of which are contradicted by high-quality trial data. Specifically, hydroxychloroquine has shown no benefit in a large number of trials, including in nonhospitalized patients (2, 3). Consensus guidelines from the National Institutes of Health and the Infectious Diseases Society of America recommend against the use of hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin (4, 5). Based on the RECOVERY trial, steroids also should not be used in patients who do not require supplemental oxygen (6). Dr. McCullough is correct that large conclusive trials are most helpful in determining a COVID treatment algorithm; now that we have a number of these trials, his proposed algorithm should not be presented or followed.

All Rights Reserved.

This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted noncommercial re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.

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