COVID-19 hyper-inflammatory subpopulation, compared to pauci-inflammatory, had higher levels of IL-10 (median [IQR] 61.4 [42.0–109.4] vs 13.0 [5.0–24.9], P: < 0.001), IL-6 (48.1 [22.3–82.6] vs 9.1 [0.1–30.4], P: < 0.001), among others. Here, IL6 is linked to COVID-19.