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Patients who are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 might benefit from outpatient treatment. Severe outcomes of COVID-19 include hospitalization, intensive care, ventilatory support, or death.

Risk Factors

Age is the most important risk factor for severe outcomes of COVID-19, with risk increasing substantially as age increases above 65 years.

Risk factors for severe COVID-19, such as illness requiring hospitalization, include:

  • Age over 50 years, with risk increasing substantially as age increases above 65 years
  • Being unvaccinated or not being up to date on COVID-19 vaccines
  • Specific medical conditions, with risk increasing substantially with presence of multiple medical conditions
  • Immunocompromising conditions or use of immunosuppressive medications, such as chemotherapy

Clinical judgment is needed to accurately assess a person’s risk on a case-by-case basis and determine whether treatment is indicated. 

Treatment*WhoRouteDurationTime from Illness Onset
Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir (Paxlovid)Aged >12 years and at least 40kg in weightOral5 days≤5 days
Remdesivir (Veklury)Aged >28 days and at least 3kg in weightIntravenous3 days≤7 days
Molnupiravir (Lagrevio)AdultsOral5 days≤5 days

*Click on link for full prescribing details

For more comprehensive treatment guidance, see IDSA's Guidelines on Treatment and Management of Patients with COVID-19