Can I really get this coronavirus again? Everyone wants to know and the short answer is: we don’t know for sure. Fortunately, the investigations being done in South Korea have shown that none of those who tested positive a second time were putting off the live virus. These patients had residual genetic viral material that was enough to trigger a positive test. They were not contagious.
A recent study of infected monkeys showed they did not get a reinfection after being exposed again to the Covid-19 virus.
This is good news, but we do not have factual evidence in humans. The big question is: how long does immunity last after an initial infection? One problem is how viruses mutate. Viruses, like the one that causes measles, don’t mutate. Once you’ve had it, you can’t get it again. Could Covid-19 be mutating that quickly? The United States investigators are monitoring for a similar pattern of reinfection here. Stay tuned and educate yourself daily on new, reliable information.
