Statistical analyses:
Data are expressed as the mean group value ± standard error mean (SEM). Analysis of the lung autopsies from COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative patients for measuring elastin fibers and collagen were performed using Image J software analysis ((National Institute of Health, April, 2019; ImageJ with 64-bit Java 1.8.0_172) Website: https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/ for performing densitometry measurements. NIH). Statistical differences between the two groups were determined by Student’s t -test with a two-tailed comparison. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.