For New York musician Erica Mancini, COVID-19 repeated performances.
March 2020. Last December. And again this May.
“It hurts me to know that maybe it can infect me forever,” said the 31-year-old singer, who is vaccinated and reinforced. “I don’t want to get sick every month or every two months.”
But medical experts warn that recurrent infections are increasingly likely as the pandemic creeps in and the virus evolves, and some people are forced to be affected more than twice. Emerging research suggests it could put them at greater risk for health problems.
There are no comprehensive data on people suffering from COVID-19 more than twice, although some states collect information on reinfections in general. New York, for example, reports about 277,000 reinfections out of a total of 5.8 million infections during the pandemic. Experts say the actual figures are much higher because so many domestic tests of COVID-19 are not communicated.
Several public figures have recently been reinfected. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said they had COVID-19 for the second time, and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said he gave positive for the third time. All reported being completely vaccinated, and Trudeau and Becerra said booster injections had been received.
“Until recently, it was almost unheard of, but now it’s becoming more common” to have COVID-19 two, three or even four times, said Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translation Institute. “If we don’t get better defenses, we’ll see a lot more.”
Because? Immunity from past infections and vaccination decreases over time, experts say, leaving people vulnerable.
In addition, the virus has evolved to be more contagious. The risk of reinfection has been approximately seven times higher with omicron variants compared to when the delta was more common, research from the UK shows. Scientists believe that the omicron mutants that now cause the vast majority of cases in the United States are especially adept at preventing immunity from vaccination or past infection, especially infection during the original omicron wave. U.S. health officials are reflecting on the possibility of modifying reinforcements to better adapt to recent coronavirus changes.
The first time Mancini had COVID-19, she and her fiancé increased their fever and were ill for two weeks. The test could not be done at that time, but a couple of months later he had an antibody test that showed he had been infected.
“It was really scary because it was so new and we just knew people were dying for it,” Mancini said. “We were very sick. I hadn’t been sick like that in a long time.”
She was vaccinated with Pfizer in the spring of 2021 and thought she was protected from another infection, mostly because she was sick before. But while this “hybrid immunity” may provide strong protection, it does not guarantee that someone will not have COVID-19 again.
Mancini’s second fight, which happened during the huge omicron wave, began with a sore throat. At first it turned negative, but he still felt bad driving to a concert four hours away. So he got into a Walgreens and did a quick test on his car. It was positive, he said, “so I just turned the car around and went back to Manhattan.”
This fight turned out to be milder, with “the worst sore throat of my life,” a stuffy nose, sneezing, and coughing.
The most recent illness was even milder, causing sinus pressure, brain fog, dizziness, and fatigue. That one, positive in a home test and confirmed with a PCR test, hit despite his Modern reinforcement shot.
Mancini has no known disease that could put her at risk for COVID. Take precautions against COVID-19 such as masking yourself in the grocery store and the subway. But he doesn’t usually wear a mask on stage.
“I’m a singer and I’m in these crowded bars and these little clubs, some of which don’t have a lot of ventilation, and I’m around a lot of people,” Mancini said. , which also plays accordion and percussion. “This is the price I have paid to do many things in recent years. That’s how I make a living. “
Scientists do not know exactly why some people become infected and others do not, but they believe there may be several things at stake: health and biology, exposure to particular variants, how many viruses are spreading in a community, vaccination status, and behavior. . British researchers found that people were more likely to be re-infected if they were not vaccinated, younger or had a mild infection the first time.
Scientists are also not sure how soon someone can become infected after a previous fight. And there is no guarantee that each infection will be milder than the last.
“I’ve seen it go both ways,” said Dr. Wesley, a Houston Methodist pathologist. Overall, however, innovative infections that occur after vaccination tend to be milder, he said.
Doctors said getting vaccinated and increased is the best protection against severe COVID-19 and death, and there is some evidence that it also reduces the chances of reinfection.
At this time, there have not been enough documented cases of multiple reinfections “to really know what the long-term consequences are,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor University School of Tropical Medicine.
But a large, new study using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which has not yet been reviewed by fellow scientists, provides insight, finding that reinfection increases the risk of serious outcomes and health problems. such as lung problems, heart disorders. and diabetes compared with a first infection. The risks were more pronounced when someone was ill with COVID-19, but they also persisted beyond the acute illness.
After Mancini’s last fight, he dealt with dizziness, headaches, insomnia and sinus problems, although he wondered if this was more due to his busy schedule. In a recent week, he had 16 shows and rehearsals, and has no room for another COVID-19 replay.
“It wasn’t fun,” he said. “I don’t want to have it again.”