Briefly, as shown in Fig. 2A, in HC subjects, positive correlations were found for HERV-W(248–262) and IFN-ω (r = 0.35; P = 0.017) and HERV-W(248–262) and IFN-α (r = 0.489; P = 0.0006) (Fig. 2D); in COVID-19 patients, positive correlations were found for HERV-W(248–262) and IFN-ω (r = 0.6; P < 0.0001) (Fig. 2B) and HERV-W(248–262) and IFN-α (r = 0.573; P < 0.0001) (Fig. 2E); and in ICU patients, positive correlations were found for HERV-W(248–262) and IFN-ω (r = 0.49; P = 0.02) (Fig. 2C) and HERV-W(248–262) and IFN-α (r = 0.848; P < 0.0001) (Fig. 2F). Here, IFNA1 is linked to COVID-19.