Posted on by Californiacontrarian

A Common Question


Some are just wondering and some will actually ask the common question:

“If I get Covid 2 can I get reinfected with Covid 2 again at a later date?”

The answer is “yes,” however do not be dismayed because at this point there has been only twenty-five documented confirmed  reinfections world wide. Certainly there has to have been more than twenty-five, but these 25 are these the “confirmed” ones. At this point there are approximately 500  “suspected” reinfections. (To be “confirmed” a case requires genomic sequencing of both samples, which is often not possible.) 

I just read in the Wall Street Journal about one of these reinfections. His name was Fernando Gaviria. He is a professional bicyclist who had his initial Covid infection back in February in Abu Dhabi. He was hospitalized for two weeks and so it is reasonable to assume that his infection was the real deal. He recovered and had resumed competitive cycling, getting repeatedly tested according to protocol. He had more than a dozen negative tests until October when his PCR test came back positive. This positive test was repeated multiple times – all positive. Mr. Gaviria was asymptomatic. The only reason that he was tested was because testing before races is  protocol for professional cycling. Interestingly, Mr. Gaviria is classified as “suspected,” because his sample from February is not available for genomic sequencing.

Scary? Not really, as reinfection is extremely, extremely rare. Moreover these documented twenty-five have had only mild symptoms and have not been very sick, or as was the case with Fernando Gaviria, asymptomatic. Here apparently the immune system has had a chance to kick in and thus avoid severe symptoms.

In 2003 there was Covid 1 pandemic. Interestingly the immune response to Covid 1 has been documented to last for 17 years, and counting. It is likely that the immune response to Covid 2 will be similar . . . i.e. it will last a long time also. Obviously we have not had 17 years to follow its immune response as Covid 2 has been with us for most likely less than a year.

What do we know at this point?

A recent study out of U.C. Berkeley has shown that the B-cell related antibody to the spike protein of Covid 2 has lasted for six months and the antibody levels were not waning but rather were still going up at six months. The T-cell response to Covid 2 starts to decrease after 3-5 months and then levels off. These B & T responses to Covid 2 are consistent with the body’s response to other known viruses.

So what is the best response to the question, “If I get Covid, can I get it again?:

  • At this point it appears to be extremely unlikely that anyone will contract Covid 2 a second time, and if this were to happen, the high likelihood would be that it would be quite mild.
  • There is no reason to take up biking as a preventative measure.

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