All work pertaining to the use of SARS-CoV-2 were performed in BSL-3 laboratory. SARS-CoV-2 (isolate USA-WA1/2020) purchased from bei RESOURCES (Manassas, VA) was propagated in Vero cells as per standard procedures [19 (link)]. SARS-CoV-2 virus was propagated in Vero cells, purified and concentrated using 10–30% sucrose gradient in an ultracentrifuge (Beckman L8-55), and the yield titrated as per standard protocols [20 (link)]. The following research was approved by the Office of Prospective Health/Biological Safety for the use of biohazardous agent (SARS-CoV-2) and the registration number is 20–01 (title: Host response to COVID-19 infection in Eastern North Carolina).