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Highly pathogenic human respiratory coronaviruses cause acute lethal disease characterized by exuberant inflammatory responses and lung damage. However, the factors leading to lung pathology are not well understood. Using mice infected with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)-CoV, we show that robust virus replication accompanied by delayed type I interferon (IFN-I) signaling orchestrates inflammatory responses and lung immunopathology with diminished survival. IFN-I remains detectable until after virus titers peak, but early IFN-I administration ameliorates immunopathology. This delayed IFN-I signaling promotes the accumulation of pathogenic inflammatory monocyte-macrophages (IMMs), resulting in elevated lung cytokine/chemokine levels, vascular leakage, and impaired virus-specific T cell responses. Genetic ablation of the IFN-αβ receptor (IFNAR) or IMM depletion protects mice from lethal …