CRP and Hypertension: The clinical input variables {Xi} that were considered were among those which typically would be obtained upon hospital admission or shortly thereafter, that related to COVID-19 disease presentation, and that had few if any missing data in our dataset: X1 = age, X2 = hypertension, X3 = SeptiScore, X4 = WBC count, X5 = neutrophils, X6 = lymphocytes, X7 = CRP, X8 = D-dimer, X9 = SpO2 max (within 72 h).