Under these new experimental conditions, the results were very similar to the previous ones with a lower ACE2 mRNA expression in the two groups of COVID-19 patients - compared to healthy volunteers (median values 0.561 x 10-3 and 1.28 x 10-3 versus 2.18 x 10-3 for the prolonged viral shedders, the short viral shedders, and the healthy volunteers, respectively). This evidence concerns the gene ACE2 and COVID-19.