and can be used to address key knowledge gaps, including mechanisms of innate immune control of virus replication, defining events needed for a well-orchestrated inflammatory response independent of early viral burden, molecular mechanisms of sex-dependent disease severity, and longer-term implications for tissue repair
and lung function. Taken together, these observations demonstrate that the use of host genetic variation in mice can model different outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection, addressing a major deficiency in the toolkit required to combat COVID-19.Animal study protocols were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Rocky Mountain Laboratories , NIAID, NIH in accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the NIH.