Although COVID-19 is seen to result in the secondary development of hypoxia, research indicates the possibility that hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), involved in mammalian response to hypoxia may be protective against COVID-19 pathogenesis due to its involvement in the downregulation of ACE-2 expression [42,43,44]. The gene discussed is ACE2; the disease is COVID-19.