ACE2 and COVID-19: Studies have shown that COVID-19 patients with cardiovascular risk factors (such as high blood pressure) have a higher mortality rate, which may be related to increased inflammation in SARS-CoV-2 infection or the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) that inhibit the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and cause a compensatory increase in ACE2 (Guzik et al., 2020; Azevedo et al., 2021).