Some interesting implications here:
The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals
A recent genetic association study1 identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. A new study2 comprising 3,199 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and controls finds that this is the major genetic risk factor for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization (COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative). Here, we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of ~50 kb that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by ~50% of people in South Asia and ~16% of people in Europe today.
This seems straightforward enough to me… your genes determine many things, including how susceptible you are to various diseases. Nothing surprising or controversial there. But… if some particualr genes provide a measurable functional difference, and these genes vary from group to group… doesn’t that argue against the idea that “race is a social construct?”