Your immune system fights for you and protects you against infectious disease. Your immune response is measured through inflammation and associated markers. When you have a cold, your inflammatory markers elevate. The elevate more so if you have the flu. In COVID-19, patients who are profoundly ill or die, experience a tragically high increase in inflammation and we call that a “cytokine storm.” Please note that COVID-19 is NOT special. The markers that elevate in COVID-19 are the same that elevate in any infectious disease. However, in COVID-19, in instances of severe disease, the go up to levels that can cause significant collateral damage and may lead quickly to death from the disease. The main cause(s) of death in the coronavirus and the disease, COVID-19, is edema, necrosis of lung tissue, or hypoxia (lack of oxygen supplied by the blood). Everyone has some level of low-grade inflammation, the level of which may predict your vulnerability to severe COVID-19 symptoms. An available blood test can help you determine your predisposition to dying from the novel coronavirus infection.