Consistent with this caspase-8-driven inflammatory phenotype, infection of 11-week-old animals with SARS-CoV-2 showed that while WT controls exhibited pronounced weight loss reaching predetermined ethical endpoint necessitating euthanasia, C1/11/12/8/R3-/- mice were significantly protected and were more likely to survive SARS-CoV-2 infection (Fig. 5d, e), akin to C8/R3-/- animals (Fig. 1e). This evidence concerns the gene CASP8 and infection.