But a new study claims that COVID-19 is a vascular condition and not a lung disease, as is often assumed. According to a study sponsored by the University of California-San Diego, blood clots in some patients with COVID, as well as other concerns such as “COVID feet” (read here: What are COVID feet), are not usually an indicator of ‘a respiratory system disorder.
According to research published in the Journal Circulation Research, the virus targets the arterial or circulatory system. Its S protein, which forms the crown, attacks the ACE2 receptor causing damage to the cell’s mitochondria, which creates energy and, consequently, the endothelium, which covers the blood artery.
The research formulated a pseudo-virus that only included the S protein and no other part of the virus to show the lab that this protein is sufficient to induce the disease alone. This has already been seen, but until now the exact method and function of the S protein have not been known. According to the study, all known vaccines currently recreate this protein.