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Back in the day (the middle of last year, which feels like another lifetime), I heard people joking about wanting to catch COVID-19 so that they wouldn’t have to worry about it any longer.

Well, a great deal has changed since then.

For one, the new variant which is sweeping the country is affecting younger people, with more serious symptoms, and then there are the recently published results of a study led by Public Health England.

The UK government released this statement yesterday, and the BBC has covered the key findings:

Most people who have had Covid-19 are protected from catching it again for at least five months…

Past infection was linked to around a 83% lower risk of getting the virus, compared with those who had never had Covid-19, scientists found.

So that’s the good news, but Prof Susan Hopkins, who led the study, said they also found some worrying results:

It was particularly concerning some of those reinfected had high levels of the virus – even without symptoms – and were at risk of passing it on to others, she said.

“This means even if you believe you already had the disease and are protected, you can be reassured it is highly unlikely you will develop severe infections but there is still a risk that you could acquire an infection and transmit to others,” she added.

Yet another reason to wear a mask, at the very least, with UK officials stressing people should follow the stay-at-home rules, regardless of prior infection.

The study was conducted from June to November of last year, and almost 21 000 healthcare workers across the UK were regularly tested.

You can read more on the findings of the study here.

[source:bbc]