If unresolving episodes of VAP, rather than the primary viral pneumonia, contribute to mortality in a substantial fraction of patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, it might explain why therapies that attenuate the host response (e.g., corticosteroids, IL-6 receptor antagonists, JAK2 inhibitors, and calcium release–activated calcium [CRAC] channel inhibitors) are more effective when administered early in the clinical course, before patients are intubated and at risk for VAP (1, 34, 42–44). This evidence concerns the gene JAK2 and viral pneumonia.