Fig.1. A: HRCT of the lung 5th day after coronavirus exposure, and B: HRCT of the lung on the 10th day after coronavirus exposure.
Different strategies to covid-19 management can be divided into 5 categories consist of pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, treatment in the outpatient setting, treatment of hospitalized patients admitted to hospital wards, and treatment of patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) [4]. Although, several vaccines have been approved and are available around the world in order to prevent COVID-19 infection, accessibility and affordability of all people and nations around the world to the COVID-19 vaccine would be challenging. After the occurrence of COVID-19 infection, early patient monitoring and initiation of suitable therapy based on the stages of disease would be essential. During the coronavirus replication phase, early initiation of antiviral agents including remdesivir in the inpatient settings would be helpful. After COVID-19 progression to the inflammatory phase that can result in lung infiltration, prompt initiation of anti-inflammatory agents including oral or intravenous corticosteroids would be lifesaving in order to prevent overall lung involvement and progression to respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
So, according to the pathophysiology of COVID-19 infection and my personal experience during COVID-19 infection, I want to emphasize the necessity of early initiation of anti-inflammatory agents including corticosteroids [5] and colchicine [6] in high-risk patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 pneumonia who shows respiratory system involvement, in order to prevent progression to the severe and critical stages of this disease.