Friday, September 20

If I have already had the coronavirus, can I get it again?

AP

It is possible, but these cases seem to be rare. There is growing evidence that people whose bodies made a strong defense against the virus are unlikely to test positive again for at least several months and perhaps longer.

No It is unusual to develop some immunity to a virus after an infection, as our bodies are generally better at recognizing and fighting insects they have encountered before. And that appears to be the case with the coronavirus as well, although scientists are still trying to figure out how long the protection might last.

Some reinfections have been confirmed, but two new studies suggest which is very unusual.

In one, only two of the 1. 265 Healthcare providers in the UK who were previously infected ended up testing positive for coronavirus again within the next six months. In another study of people in the US, only 0.3% of people who had been infected tested positive for the virus over the next several months, roughly the same positivity rate as the UK study.

The findings bode well for COVID vaccines – 19 being rolled out, which trigger the kind of immune responses that studies found protective.