Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is known to cause multiorgan dysfunction during acute infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with some patients presenting with longer-lasting symptoms called postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (Stein et al. 2022). However, the burden of infection outside the respiratory tract and the time required to ensure the clearance of the virus are not well described, particularly in the brain. Stein et al. performed complete autopsies in 44 patients who died from COVID-19, with an extensive sampling of the central nervous system in 11 of these patients to record and quantify the distribution, replication and cell-type specificity of SARS-CoV-2 in the human body, including the brain, from acute infection to more than 7 months after the onset of symptoms.