Reducing the contagion is a big deal. That makes the disease a lot less threatening.
Absolutely, even if HCQ-AZ did not reduce the mortality rate.
We really need to see the full study. One very nice thing about Dr. Raoult's studies is that he tests his patients for COVID-19 every day. This is a lot of work. From the latest abstract: "From March 3rd to April 9th, 2020, 59,655 specimens from 38,617 patients were tested for COVID-19 by PCR." Those numbers are well out of "anecdotal" territory.
If his results show that viral loads drop significantly faster with HCQ-AZ treatment than without, that will be very hard to argue with.