This drug is an antiviral and isn't the Covid viral load already on the decline by the time that most people are hospitalized? See Fig 2 from https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3862 . Its the other issues like the inflammatory cytokine response, tissue damage, and secondary infections that cause the poor outcomes in most hospitalized patients.

So you'd need to take any antiviral early on. I think they said within 5 days in this study. Also of interest is that the 5 day marker is where the mild and severe cases diverge according to the article I linked to.

It is possible that it could allow for more aggressive immune modulation and immune suppression in people where post-infection and immune damage is the main issue.

Well, yeah -- tautologically, it only helps reduce risk of hospitalization before hospitalization. But it could still be a useful therapy post-hospitalization -- I don't know.

Now we need a way to get these pills safely to someone’s door in less than 24 hours. If you call your doctor just when you’re developing Covid symptoms, he should be able to get a regimen of these pills delivered to you on the same day. Without that, they’re not only pointless but will seem ineffective.