I suspect remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine will both have a place in treatment regimens for COVID-19.
I would predict hydroxychloroquine (oral drug) will end up as part of the early/outpatient treatment regimens - sort of like Tamiflu is used now for influenza. Remdesivir (intravenous drug) will probably be used as part of the multifaceted treatment regimens in seriously ill hospitalized patients. That assumes current information trends for these drugs continue to look good.
I’ve been following twitter accounts of medical people and posting links to articles about remarkable recoveries of patients getting HCQ/Zpack.
The truth is HCQ/Zpack doesn’t always work. As one doctor said, the disease sometimes progresses. Maybe HCQ/Zpack wasn’t given early enough to prevent the cytokine storm happening, or given too late to reverse lung damage when the patient is on a vent. In many cases remdesivir works, or tocilizumab, or now plasma therapy. Doctors around the world are now using HCQ/Zpack as the first treatment against covid19, but as you said, remdesivir could be a safety net if patients deteriorate.