Unexpectedly, infection with rSARS-CoV-2-Δ8 of K18-hACE2 mice induced in the lungs higher levels of IFN-γ than rSARS-CoV-2-WT, although no difference in IFN-α levels was detected, indicating that ORF8 might have a limited impact on the IFN-I response in vivo (Silvas et al., 2021), in contrast to the results observed in overexpression experiments. This evidence concerns the gene IFNA1 and infection.