The COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, a global initiative to elucidate the role of host genetic factors in susceptibility and severity of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis creating severe disruptions across the economy and health system. Insights into how to better understand and treat COVID-19 are desperately needed. Early studies have focused on the clinical characteristics [1,2,3], epidemiology [1, 4, 5], and genomic characterization [6,7,8] of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These studies have also highlighted the value and importance of transparent data sharing across countries, which have enabled the live tracking of the disease widespread worldwide [9, 10]. The role of host genetics in impacting susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 has been less studied. Previous work has supported the role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) in…