Integrating single-cell sequencing data with GWAS summary statistics reveals CD16+monocytes and memory CD8+T cells involved in severe COVID-19.

We uncover a major genetics-modulated immunological shift between mild and severe infection, including an elevated expression of genetics-risk genes, increase in inflammatory cytokines, and of functional immune cell subsets aggravating disease severity, which provides novel insights into parsing the host genetic determinants that influence peripheral immune cells in severe COVID-19.