New data suggest people aren't getting reinfected with the coronavirus

[JimGinPA]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid19-reinfection-immune-response?utm_content=129808293&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-212009668822281&fbclid=IwAR1GG8qqrsTATWLm7_YEMC9kUlckcXw-pgemLy8i8adVMzSp8JAfq7cRb14

People who test positive after recovering from COVID-19 don’t appear to carry infectious virus

People who test positive again for the coronavirus, despite having already recovered from COVID-19, aren’t being reinfected, a new study finds.

Reports of patients discharged from hospitals in South Korea testing positive after their apparent recovery had raised concerns that people could get infected by the virus in the short term more than once or that the infection could come back. But diagnostic tests for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rely on detecting the virus’s genetic material (SN: 4/17/20). A positive result does not indicate whether a person is shedding viruses capable of infecting cells — which would signal an active infection.

Now, a May 19 report from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that samples from “reinfected” patients don’t have infectious viruses. The finding hints that the diagnostic tests are picking up on the genetic material from noninfectious or dead viruses. That lack of infectious virus particles means these people aren’t currently infected and can’t transmit the coronavirus to others, the researchers say.

“It’s good news,” says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University. “It appears people are not being reinfected, and this virus is not reactivating.”

~ more at link

[Wounded Bear]

1. K & R...for visibility...nt

[Laelth]

2. I am suspicious of this conclusion.

My assumption is that people CAN catch SARS-CoV-2 multiple times but that the symptoms are less severe each time that a human body fights the virus. Whether or not one is CONTAGIOUS on second or third rounds of COVID-19 is another question.

-Laelth

[brush]

3. I don't know about that. Some of those sailors infected on that aircraft carrier...

healed and then go re-infected on the ship again.

[Igel]

5. Distinguish between what is and what the tests are interpreted to mean.

You are given a COVID PCR test. It comes back positive.

The CDC records a positive test.

The media report a new "case".

What the test actually showed is the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. It did not say that there was a live virus or that the person was currently ill. Just that there was the right kind of viral RNA in the sample. The RNA is present in live virus. It's also present in dead virus. Or in virus that's been chopped and no longer really recognizable as a virus. That's what a positive test shows.

If you're symptomatic, it's usually going to be the case that what's causing the symptoms is the virus you're testing for. Doesn't have to be. You could have recovered from COVID last week and contracted a cold or have bad allergies. Or maybe you're just recovering with some of the lingering symptoms. It apparently can take a week or more for the deceased and diced-up virus to be cleared from a body.

If you remember what the data actually indicate and separate out that from the interpretation usually given, it helps.

The sailors were infected on that aircraft carrier. They recovered. And a week later a test showed that they still had SARS-CoV-2 RNA in their naso-phagyngeal cavity. That could be due to having an active infection--for which there is no actual evidence--or it could be because theywere still clearing SARS-CoV-2 RNA from their bodies.

[ecstatic]

4. But the people who get tested again are tested again

because they have new symptoms. So are they saying that symptomatic people who test positive for covid19 are NOT contagious if they were previously infected and recovered?

The U.S. Navy says 13 sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt who had apparently recovered from the coronavirus and had received negative test results have now tested positive for a second time.

In a statement released earlier on Saturday when five sailors were found to have retested positive, the Navy said the sailors had "met rigorous recovery criteria, exceeding CDC guidelines," including testing negative for the virus at least twice, but have now retested positive. The statement said the sailors had been monitoring their health and adhered to social-distancing protocols while on board the Roosevelt, which has been docked in Guam following an outbreak infecting hundreds of crew members.

"These five Sailors developed influenza-like illness symptoms and did the right thing reporting to medical for evaluation," the statement said.

The Navy has since confirmed to NPR that an additional eight sailors have retested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total to 13.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/16/857379338/5-uss-roosevelt-sailors-test-positive-for-covid-19-again

[Igel]

6. Most of the people in TX being tested for COVID are showing symptoms.

The positive rate less than 5% for COVID.

For every 100 people suffering from COVID symptoms and were tested, 95 or more didn't have COVID.

Why rule out the possibility that there are either lingering symptoms or another viral infection or allergy hasn't cropped up after the virus that the COVID test checks for has been rendered inert (but hasn't yet been completely cleared)?