But doesn't it still rely on a person getting early symptoms of COVID-19 seeking medical aid? I can't really imagine someone developing a cough and then immediately heading to their physician to get their antiviral pills.
... Wait, can you not? That's basically how tamiflu works. And one relic of the pandemic will be that at-home covid testing will be cheap, easy and available in a way that at-home flu testing is not (antigen tests are already cheap and easily available in Europe, and soon will be worldwide).
Now, I can imagine that not _all_ cases will be given the antiviral automatically. If you're a vaccinated 18 year old with no comorbidities, say, that is probably not going to be cost-effective (though, well, we'll see what happens with long covid); the chances of you landing in hospital are just very low. But if you're an overweight unvaccinated 60 year old, there's quite a good chance of you turning into a hideously expensive ICU case, and it probably makes sense to provide the treatment.
It doesn't have to a prescription, they could distribute them after a telehealth meeting, or on the same basis as vaccines, or at any pharmacy after a talk with the pharmacian, etc...
