
COVID19 reinfection by a phylogenetically distinct coronavirus strain confirmed - drocer88
https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa1275/5897019
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salmon30salmon
This is neither surprising nor concerning. It is exactly what you would expect
from a coronavirus, remembering that a lot of what we now call the common cold
is caused by various coronavirus strains. It would be shocking if we did _not_
see re-infection.

The important questions are as follows:

1\. What is the _severity_ of reinfection?

2\. What is the average immune response of re-infections?

3\. If the infection is less severe, what is the shedding rate? How infectious
are the re-infected?

4\. Does re-infection occur in those who receive mRNA vaccinations (this is
not really testable yet)

The pearl clutching with everything COVID related is quite concerning, moreso
than the disease itself. The science is interesting, but the medias obsession
with exaggerating and fear-mongering this disease is incredible. With that
said, I appreciate that the link is to the paper, and not a media report on
the paper. However I do await the stories that this proves we are all doomed
:(

~~~
pasabagi
> pearl clutching with everything COVID related is quite concerning, moreso
> than the disease itself.

At the high points of the peak in the US, COVID 19 was killing more people per
week than cancer or heart disease in the US. If everybody was just going on
with business as usual, there's no reason to believe that the curve would have
been turned.

If you're in an at-risk group, COVID is really dangerous. The case fatality
rate is around 3% in the US, and it's extremely contagious, so it's plausible
to imagine a world where everybody got it.

I think with these numbers in mind, a little bit of 'pearl clutching' is
warranted.

~~~
chrisco255
[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm)

There was only ever a few weeks there that excess death count was above
average (see above). We have been at or below average for several weeks now.
When you factor that in with the fact that vast majority of Covid deaths (over
90%) had comorbidities, we can safely conclude this virus is not as deadly as
it has been hyped up to be. Case fatality rate is nowhere near 3%. Most
estimates have been 0.25% or lower. Vast majority of the population has
natural immunity and remains asymptomatic even upon infection.

EDIT REPLY: No average excess deaths is never zero, as you can see in the
chart down the page listed above on the CDC site. We have been down in the
range of a bad flu season for a couple months now. Why is excess death count
important? Because it disentangles the people who died from Covid from the
people who died with Covid. If a 90 year old dies with Covid, and that same
person would have statistically likely died from any disease including
pneumonia or the flu, it's worth noting. It has substantial implications for
society. That's why excess death count is worth looking at.

~~~
dragonwriter
> there was only ever a few weeks there that excess death count was above
> average (see above).

What is this supposed to mean? Excess death count is the amount above the
expected, so average excess deaths is 0.

And every week from March 28 on has positive excess deaths, except the last
week on the chart, which is unreliable becuase...

> We have been at or below average for several weeks now.

from the popup in your source when you highlight any datapoint on the chart:
"Data in recent weeks are incomplete."

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just-juan-post
As a layman I have to ask: Isn't this what happens with "the flu" (our annual
flu waves) every year? It infects us, we fight it back, it mutates, infects us
again, we fight it off again, and the cycle repeats.

Same thing happening here?

~~~
thewarrior
Yes but this is deadlier

~~~
neilwilson
Is it?

It may be twice, possibly three times as deadly at the older end of the
population, but it is nowhere near as deadly at the younger end - where flu is
a much bigger killer.

It certainly isn't ten times as deadly overall.

Moving from blasé to hysterical helps nobody. We need to be rational.

