The best theories I have seen all lead to the conclusion that the Coronavirus attacks the lungs and inhibits the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the lung cells.
My personal favorite is based on the idea that the virus attacks an enzyme that mediates the chemical reactions in the lung cells to maintain a proper balance. The virus disables that enzyme.
The reason I like this theory is that Hydroxycloroquine appears to protect that enzyme so the virus cannot interfere with the normal lung function. But it doesn’t kill the virus and it needs to be applied early in the cycle. Another fact that seems well established.
Read the new Chinese retrospective I linked earlier in the thread. Amazingly these great results were achieved in critical patients on ventilators.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Hydroxychloroquine treatment is significantly associated with a decreased mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19 through attenuation of inflammatory cytokine storm. Therefore, hydroxychloroquine should be prescribed for treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients to save lives.