Association of Cardiac Infection With SARS-CoV-2 in Confirmed COVID-19 Autopsy Cases.

Importance: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be documented in various tissues, but the frequency of cardiac involvement as well as possible consequences are unknown.

Objective: To evaluate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the myocardial tissue from autopsy cases and to document a possible cardiac response to that infection.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used data from consecutive autopsy cases from Germany between April 8 and April 18, 2020.