The markedly lower risk of children developing severe COVID-19 on the other hand correlates with an increased basal expression level of the pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) MDA5 and RIG-I, leading to a stronger innate antiviral immune response upon SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with adults (Loske et al., 2021; Yoshida et al., 2021). This evidence concerns the gene IFIH1 and COVID-19.