In other words in even more acute injury from disease or trauma you'll see more cytokines than where there is less or localized trauma. Which doesn't really address disease progression and severity in COVID-19 and cytokines.

Quote:

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His study, published online August 21 in PNAS, also revealed lower serum IL-6 levels among people with COVID-19 compared to patients with bacterial ARDS or sepsis.

Kishimoto drew a distinction, however: COVID-19 patients can develop severe respiratory failure, suggesting a distinct immune reaction compared to patients with bacterial sepsis. SARS-CoV-2 directly infects and activates endothelial cells rather than macrophages, as occurs in sepsis.

For this reason, Kishimoto said, "SARS-CoV-2 infection causes critical illness and severe dysfunction in respiratory organs and induces a cytokine storm," even in the setting of lower but still elevated serum IL-6 levels.

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https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/937044?s...faf=1#vp_2

Study link -

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/36/22351