ELF5 and COVID-19: This finding points towards a specific role of the major C-allele of rs766826 in increasing the expression of ELF5 in the lung (beta = 0.24, p value = 5.3 × 10−15) with subsequent higher risk for severe COVID-19 (odds ratio = 1.11, 95% CI:1.06–1.16; p value < 5.0 × 10−6) and higher abundances of ELF5 in blood (beta = 0.07, p value < 5.4 × 10−6), the latter likely via cell turnover or injury of lung tissue since ELF5 is not predicted to be actively secreted into blood36.