IFNA1 and infection: Patients initiate transcription of hundreds of IFN-stimulated genes that have antiviral, immunomodulatory, and cell regulatory functions.41 In SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, the host fails to induce IFNs until 12 h after infection, which correlates with disease severity and clinical course.41,45 How quickly the IFN family of cytokines is induced and how the time course of IFN induction could impact the severity of COVID-19 remains unclear.