While Li and colleagues reported phosphorylated MLKL (p-MLKL) staining in the lungs of HFH4-hACE2 animals and in post-mortem tissues of COVID-19 patients [45], Xu et al. observed upregulation of MLKL in lungs of patients with severe COVID-19, but could not detect p-MLKL [24]. The gene discussed is MLKL; the disease is COVID-19.