4 ms·

Do we have any proof of people getting re-infected at a population level, or even any proper studies of individual re-infection? Because a lack of re-infections

Do we have any proof of people getting re-infected at a population level, or even any proper studies of individual re-infection? Because a lack of re-infections is what I think would constitute a basis for building herd immunity.

usrusr 5y ago
That basis is gone, no study required. Reinfections have long ceased to be noteworthy events. But yeah, there are also studies. None as elaborate and big as, say, a vaccine phase 3, because there aren't really any decisions swiftly based on the exact value of reinfection probabilities, but enough to show that there's no reason to assume that there will be less reinfections than with any other endemic cold.
- ifyoubuildit 5y ago
  > Reinfections have long ceased to be noteworthy events. How long is long? This was published a little over a month ago: Protective immunity after recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00676-9/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3...
  - usrusr 5y ago
    Yeah, that's all about quantifying something well known, not "stop the press, there's been a reinfection!"
    - ifyoubuildit 5y ago
      You said: > The effect of infection is stronger wrt to spread for a few weeks or months but that difference isn't a long term thing. That's not how you reach herd immunity, it's how you reach seasonality. The authors of that study said: > Community immunity to control the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic can be reached with the acquired immunity due to either previous infection or vaccination. I haven't seen anything yet that says protection after infection wanes all that much. I see a lot of "we don't know how long it will last", but it seems to last as long as we have data for so far.