Am I immune to the coronavirus if I’ve already had it?
You have some immunity, but how much and for how long are big unanswered questions.
There’s evidence that reinfection is unlikely for at least three months even for people who had a mild case of COVID-19. That’s how long New York City researchers found stable levels of protective antibodies in a study of nearly 20,000 patients of the Mount Sinai Health System.
Reinfection so far has been rare. The best known example: Researchers in Hong Kong said a man had mild COVID-19 and then months later was infected again but showed no symptoms. His second infection was detected through airport testing, and researchers said genetic tests revealed slightly different strains of the virus.
It’s actually evidence the man’s immune system worked like it should. Very few diseases leave people completely immune for life.
Antibodies are only one piece of the body’s defenses, and they naturally wane over time. And usually, “memory” immune cells can identify germs they previously encountered so they’re better at fighting them the second time around. That can help make any repeat infections less severe.
Scientists are studying how the other parts of the immune system kick in with the coronavirus.
It’s not known whether people who’ve been reinfected but show no symptoms would be able to spread the virus to others. That’s why health authorities say even people who have recovered from COVID-19 need to wear a mask, keep their distance and practice good hygiene.
(AP)
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5 Responses
Wow They found one man in Hong Kong who got China virus again. Yay. So we should all live under out beds in fear.
No health authorities don’t know the difference between their left hand and right hand. They call it a novel virus after all.
As long as they don’t admit that people have some immunity after contacting the virus they will never be taken seriously. People have to be able to go on with their life, this lockdown is causing so much collateral damage.
In EY there are dozens of cases of reinfection, months apart.
Actually that comment nailed the point exactly “As long as they don’t admit that people have some immunity after contacting the virus they will never be taken seriously.” this is absolutely the point as long as politicians and public health officials continue to falsely insist that there is no immunity at all people know they are lying and therefor ignore them and decide that the exact opposite is true and it provides absolute immunity forever, which is aldo not true. In reality it provides partial immunty which varies by person based on some known and some unknown factors and diminishes over time. But as long as the public officials keep lying people will simply make up their own facts and just go with their fantasys and to a certain degree i don’t even blame them i blame the officials who are LYING!!