The blunder is in this comment from the FDA’s revocation of its EUA for hydroxychloroquine:

Hospitalized patients were likely to have greater prospect of benefit (compared to ambulatory patients with mild illness) and could be more closely monitored for potential toxicity, although it was recognized that enrollment in a clinical trial would be the best option when using these drugs so that data on safety and effectiveness could be obtained.

Hospitalized patients had likely already cleared the virus by the time they were hospitalized. This was known at the time of the EUA revocation. So giving antivirals after the virus had already been cleared was kind of…pointless. So the FDA knew that giving hydroxychloroquine to hospitalized patients wasn’t going to help them, barring some miraculous method of action. However, that wasn’t the biggest blunder.

To find the blunder, we have to look at the history of hospitalized patients. Most…