
Scientists See Signs of Lasting Immunity to Covid-19, Even After Mild Infections - danboarder
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/16/health/coronavirus-immunity-antibodies.html
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danboarder
I interpret this as some good news. If having Covid-19 provides lasting
immunity (years?) then I think that would mean the 5 million or so Americans
who have had it and recovered and go back to normal life. Am I missing
something?

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pmiller2
Yes, there is a lot still missing. We don't know if everybody who gets the
disease has immunity, and we have no idea how long such immunity would last.
Until those things are figured out, giving out "immunity passports," as it
were, to resume normal activities, is a mistake.

~~~
mikem170
They are finding that prior exposure to other coronavirus infections (common
cold, animal viruses) leaves behind t-cells that are activates for covid-19,
as long as 17 years. And that a large percentage of the population has these
t-cells. [0]

Perhaps that explains why we have appeared to reached herd immunity in places
like northern Italy, NYC, etc. The tests for b-cell antibodies don't detect
t-cells.

Worst case predictions are just not panning out for this virus. It is like
other coronavirus infections. It was expected to decrease in severity and
become endemic, perhaps another common cold variant of something that comes up
like a bad flu year every once in a while [1]

[0]
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2598-9](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2598-9)

[1] [https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/04/two-scenarios-if-new-
cor...](https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/04/two-scenarios-if-new-coronavirus-
isnt-contained/)

