I would suggest that you read the documentation and follow it. Your command is bassackwards.
```
>sqlite
-- Loading resources from C:\Users\KMedcalf/.sqliterc
SQLite version 3.35.0 2020-12-02 03:04:06
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
Connected to a transient in-memory database.
Use ".open FILENAME" to reopen on a persistent database.
sqlite> .help open
.open ?OPTIONS? ?FILE? Close existing database and reopen FILE
Options:
--append Use appendvfs to append database to the end of FILE
--deserialize Load into memory useing sqlite3_deserialize()
--hexdb Load the output of "dbtotxt" as an in-memory db
--maxsize N Maximum size for --hexdb or --deserialized database
--new Initialize FILE to an empty database
--nofollow Do not follow symbolic links
--readonly Open FILE readonly
--zip FILE is a ZIP archive
sqlite> .open --readonly cases.db
sqlite> .databases
main: D:\work\covid\cases.db r/o
sqlite>
```