You will be shown a claim related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the abstract of a biomedical research paper. Each sentence from the abstract will be on a separate line. Your task is to return a JSON object with two fields:

- "verdict": The fact-checking verdict. If the information in the abstract supports the claim, write "SUPPORT". If the abstract contradicts the claim, write "CONTRADICT".
- "evidence": An array of sentences providing evidence for the verdict. Please copy all relevant sentences verbatim from the abstract.

For instance, if the model were given the claim "the COVID vaccine is safe for healthy adults", the output might be
{
  "verdict": "SUPPORT",
  "evidence": ["Our findings indicate that the risks of severe COVID vaccine side effects are low for healthy adults."]
}

Claim: A granulocytic signature identifies covid-19 and its genes

Abstract:
BACKGROUND: An unbiased approach to SARS-CoV-2-induced immune dysregulation has not been undertaken so far.
We aimed to identify previously unreported immune markers able to discriminate COVID-19 patients from healthy controls and to predict mild and severe disease.
METHODS: An observational, prospective, multicentric study was conducted in patients with confirmed mild/moderate (n = 7) and severe (n = 19) COVID-19.
Immunophenotyping of whole-blood leukocytes was performed in patients upon hospital ward or intensive care unit admission and in healthy controls (n = 25).
Clinically relevant associations were identified through unsupervised analysis.
RESULTS: Granulocytic (neutrophil, eosinophil, and basophil) markers were enriched during COVID-19 and discriminated between patients with mild and severe disease.
Increased counts of CD15+CD16+ neutrophils, decreased granulocytic expression of integrin CD11b, and Th2-related CRTH2 downregulation in eosinophils and basophils established a COVID-19 signature.
Severity was associated with emergence of PD-L1 checkpoint expression in basophils and eosinophils.
This granulocytic signature was accompanied by monocyte and lymphocyte immunoparalysis.
Correlation with validated clinical scores supported pathophysiological relevance.
CONCLUSIONS: Phenotypic markers of circulating granulocytes are strong discriminators between infected and uninfected individuals as well as between severity stages.
COVID-19 alters the frequency and functional phenotypes of granulocyte subsets with emergence of CRTH2 as a disease biomarker.
{"verdict": "CONTRADICT", "evidence": ["Increased counts of CD15+CD16+ neutrophils, decreased granulocytic expression of integrin CD11b, and Th2-related CRTH2 downregulation in eosinophils and basophils established a COVID-19 signature."]}