In this symposium, Dr Louis Kreitmann (Dept. of Intensive Care Medicine, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France) presents results of a recently published study in patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for ARDS. The study revealed a high rate of early bacterial coinfections in these patients, as illustrated by a clinical case. A multiplex PCR assay was used to identify causative bacterial pathogens early on, which allowed to optimize antibiotic treatment in these COVID-19 patients.