Unlike the lungs, the gene expression screen for the CNS from both models harvested on P8 (3 dpi for SARS-CoV-2 and 7 dpi for rVSV-SARS2-S) showed a clear change in mRNA expression patterns with an upregulation of inflammatory genes consistent with viral encephalitis (Figure 4). Here, SARS2 is linked to viral encephalitis.