STAT2 and acute respiratory distress syndrome: In contrast, as most SARS-CoV-2 vsRNAs were detected in human viruses, we observed an over-expression of critical genes associated with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) seen in COVID-19 patients, such as cytokines (CXCL8 and CXCL11) [85], interleukins (IL-6) [86], and proinflammatory genes (JAK2, STAT2, and MXD1) [87].