Several impending questions such as -- How long is a COVID-19 survivor protected for? and 'how long does novel coronavirus immunity last?' -- have been dinally answered by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). On its website, the US health agency said that a person who has recovered from the Coronavirus caused disease COVID-19 will likely be safe from reinfection for three months.
Immunity Against Coronavirus
As reported by the New York Times, Columbia University virologist Angela Rasmussen earlier explained that "most people are generally not aware of T cell immunity, and so much of the conversation has focused on antibody levels." The T Cell can kill the virus upon reinfection by kickstarting the production of antibodies in the bloodstream.
Recently another claim was made by researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California. As per the researchers, infection with common cold Coronaviruses can create an immune response that resembles key pieces of immune response generated by novel Coronavirus.
Previous studies also claimed that antibodies from recovered SARS-CoV-2 patients will fade over the course of a few months. But this is the first time when a federal agency has acknowledged a defined immunity period for recovered COVID-19 patients.
CDC Update
Even though CDC did not make a formal announcement of the latest findings on immunity against Coronavirus, the agency added the information on its website where it mentioned quarantine details.
As per the update, which was made on August 3, CDC said that people who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 disease, need to quarantine for 14 days, except people who have had Coronavirus infection within the past three months. It explains:
People who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to 3 months as long as they do not develop symptoms again. People who develop symptoms again within 3 months of their first bout of COVID-19 may need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms.
Before the update, the same COVID-19 quarantine page claimed that:
As reported by The Hill, a CDC spokesperson clarified that it is unlikely for someone to get reinfected or infect others during the three-month period after recovery. The spokesperson also said, "it's important these individuals continue to social distance, wear masks, and practice good hand hygiene until scientists know more about long term immunity against COVID-19."
It has been more than seven months since the novel Coronavirus hit the world and there are still many questions about the virus which are unanswered. However, depending upon the findings, CDC will update the page.
Things that we know include that many Coronavirus patients are getting infected for the second time after few months of their recovery. But as per researchers at CDC Korea, they are not contagious the second time around.
