First, we did not have data from all follow-up samples due to early discharge, which makes comparison of longitudinal results less powerful; second, we did not recruit asymptomatic individuals who were not hospitalized as controls, or compare plasma syndecan-1 levels with other patients who had sepsis and ICU admission for other reasons than severe/critical COVID-19 disease, although such a comparison has been extensively performed in other previous studies and interpretation for the results would be complicated. The gene discussed is SDC1; the disease is Sepsis.