There are at least two distinct biological components to COVID-19 mortality risk: susceptibility to viral infection and the propensity to develop harmful pulmonary inflammation. Both components are inheritable and associated with specific genetic variants. For instance, the genetic locus 3p21.31 has been repeatedly associated with hospitalization. Critical COVID-19 respiratory failure has a distinct pathophysiology characterized by profound pulmonary inflammation, diffuse alveolar damage, macrophage influx, and microthrombus formation, and it is highly responsive to corticosteroid therapy. To better understand these underlying host-driven inflammatory mechanisms, researchers utilized GenOMICC data to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS).