An informed guide to the pandemic, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment. |
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 | | The New York Times |
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 | | Leonardo Santamaria |
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How to deal with reinfection |
These days, it seems like no one is safe from Covid. |
The latest wave is also causing a surge in reinfections, even among people who have had the virus as recently as a few weeks or months ago. For more on this phenomenon, I spoke to my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli, a Times health and science reporter. |
What should we know about reinfection with BA.5? |
For most people, with this variant, getting infected should not be serious, because they will have some level of immunity either from prior infection or from having had two or maybe even three or four doses of a vaccine. But even more than in prior waves, the difference will really be stark compared to people who are unvaccinated. |
What does reinfection do to the body — particularly in terms of long Covid? |
We don't know very much about whether every infection increases the risk of having long Covid or whether you build up immunity and the risk goes down. But one recent study suggested that your risk goes up with every event, so the more times you are infected, the higher the risk that you're going to develop long Covid. There is a pretty strong correlation between those who developed long Covid and those who were severely sick to begin with. But it's not a clean connection. There are cases of people who had very mild symptoms and were barely sick at all, but who still have lingering effects for months. |
How much protection does a previous infection offer someone? |
A lot of people got infected in the winter wave, but we know that immunity from BA.1 doesn't seem to be superprotective. It didn't seem to produce really high levels of the kind of antibodies you need to prevent another infection. So that partly explains why we're seeing reinfections even among people who had it in January. But the current variant — BA.5 — looks like it produces a stronger immune response than BA.1 did. So hopefully people who are getting infected now will have immunity for longer than they did after a BA.1 infection. |
How long can someone who recently got sick expect their protection to last? |
With BA.1, we saw that people were getting reinfected within two to three months sometimes. But the risk seems to vary depending on how strong your infection was. The more severe your symptoms, the stronger your immune response, and the longer it might last. There are a lot of variables at play, but I would say that if it's been three months or longer since your previous infection, you probably want to be more careful. |
Is there a difference between the protection afforded from an infection, as opposed to vaccination? |
Infection is more likely to give you antibodies in the nose, which is really where you need them to prevent future infection, whereas vaccination generates antibodies in the blood. On the other hand, many studies have shown that the immunity you get from infection is variable and may not hold up well against Omicron, so vaccines are still your best bet against the virus. |
How are you protecting yourself these days? |
I don't mask outdoors, and I never really did. But I wear a mask any time I'm in a crowded indoor environment. So I just went to Italy and to Madison, Wis., for example. I didn't necessarily mask every single minute, but I masked any time I was around a lot of people. I masked on the airplane. I masked in the airports. I masked when I was at a virology conference. So, it's context-specific. |
I was infected in March. I wasn't sure when that immunity would wear off, but my husband recently had Covid and my kids and I didn't get it, so that made me think, "Oh, maybe our immunity is actually lasting a little bit." I don't know exactly when it'll wear off, so I'll continue to be somewhat careful. But I'm certainly traveling a lot and doing many more things than I was earlier in the pandemic. |
More on reinfections: Jeremy Kamil, a virologist and associate professor of microbiology and immunology, wrote a guest essay for Times Opinion to set the record straight on variants and reinfection. |
We asked readers who have had Covid more than once for their advice on dealing with a reinfection. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. |
First, cut yourself some slack. This new variant is catching everybody. Shame isn't going to help you heal. Second, hydrate. Everything in your body works better if you're hydrated. The only way through is through, so make the path as easy as possible. Finally, mask up. You don't want other people to go through what you are! — Brian Cook, Boston |
I've had it twice, three months apart. First time was definitely worse. Give yourself time — the fatigue is real. Go back to work slowly — half-days or two days on, one day off. Nap a lot. And when someone offers to bring you food or do an errand for you, just say yes. Put yourself first for a change. — Lisa Sienkiewicz, Johnson City, N.Y. |
Keep crunchy foods near by! If you can't taste or smell, crunch is the next best thing. And stay hydrated. — Ben, Long Island |
Don't freak out, and know that your reinfection may be very different than your first. If you live alone, have someone be your phone contact to monitor how you're doing a few times a day. Be honest with your contact about how you are feeling. — Chari Anhouse, New York City |
Don't panic. In hindsight, the symptoms I experienced were no different than a common cold, made worse only by stress. Find ways to reduce your stress: Deep breathing, meditation, etc. were all very helpful in mitigating the symptoms. — Alex Gatto, San Francisco |
My second infection was definitely milder than my first, and what I learned from the first time was to keep a "break in case of Covid" isolation kit — a list of things I would enjoy or keep me mentally stimulated in case I had to isolate. For me, I kept a list of video games I wanted to get through but never had the time to because of work and my daily routine. I would spend quite a bit of my day catching up with friends. Finally, even though this has been said a million times before, get vaccinated. — Anthony, Toronto |
As soon as you're well enough to feel restless, get up. Shower. Put on clean clothes and a bright top. Go outside and move your body. Weeding the garden and taking in fresh morning air with silent, deep gratitude for breath and body is getting me through this week of illness. — Willow Baum, Callicoon, N.Y. |
What else we're following |
Let us know how you're dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. |
| Thanks for reading. I'll be back Monday — Jonathan |
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