Highlights Despite a superficial resemblance, care should be taken not to reflexively conflate COVID-19 lung disease with the more familiar entity of ARDS. There is reason to believe that there are histopathological differences between COVID-19 lung disease and ARDS known to complicate influenza From the pulmonology perspective, this distinction has major treatment implications. The argument for corticosteroid use, which is ineffective in ARDS caused by influenza, in COVID-19 lung disease rests on this separation.

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