TY - JOUR T1 - Thoughts on COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases JF - Lupus Science & Medicine JO - Lupus Sci Med DO - 10.1136/lupus-2020-000396 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - e000396 AU - Anca D Askanase AU - Leila Khalili AU - Jill P Buyon Y1 - 2020/04/01 UR - http://lupus.bmj.com/content/7/1/e000396.abstract N2 - Over the 2 months since coronavirus first appeared in China, cases have emerged on every continent, and it is clear that patients with autoimmune diseases might also be affected. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious viral illness with a mortality rate approaching 2%. Here we discuss the challenges that patients with autoimmune diseases might face and the information on using immunomodulatory therapies like chloroquine, tocilizumab and baricitinib to quench the cytokine storm in patients with very severe COVID-19 pneumonia. ER -