COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on our society. By functionally defining the human genes required for SARS-CoV-2 to hurt or kill our cells, we can better understand the needs of this virus, and develop new rational ways to stop it. Here we use a whole genome CRISPR activation screen to identify human genes that are sufficient to suppress live SARS-CoV-2 infection. In total we identified 34 genes that, when upregulated, significantly (FDR<0.1) suppress infection. Pathway analysis highlighted multiple signalling pathways, glycan biosynthesis, ribosome components, and synaptic vesicle cycling. We individually validated the top genes we hit and confirmed that most do indeed suppress SARS-CoV-2 infection. One of these new inhibitory proteins is a well characterized cell surface lectin, and we independently confirmed this lectin can suppress infection and bind spike protein. This new SARS-CoV-2 inhibitory protein can block both alpha and delta strains of SARS-CoV-2. We are currently evaluating how this new SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor suppresses infection using both in vitro and in vivo systems. Our data highlight how powerful pooled functional genomic approaches can be in quickly teaching us how to control new uncharacterised biological responses.