Studying the Possibility of COVID-19 Reinfection

Alessandro Sette, a scientist with the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, adds that it's important to focus on what these recent studies add up to mean.

"Of course you can get reinfected with COVID-19,” he says, echoing CDC advice that those who've had COVID-19 maintain strategies to reduce transmission risk, such as mask wearing and social distancing. But the question, says Sette, is “how often does it occur and what is the bigger picture coming out?”

The lack of scientific proof needed to zero in on the true reinfection rate is hindering scientists’ quest for answers, he says.

Vaccination can be key to eliminating hard-to-calculate risk

In order to prove that a patient has been reinfected with coronavirus, scientists need to show through PCR and antigen testing that a patient has been positive, then negative and then positive again for the virus. Enough such test results, with the genetic testing needed to analyze different strains of the virus involved, are hard to come by.

Still, Sette believes cases of reinfection have been underestimated, and it's important, especially for people who are immunocompromised, to know the true infection rate.

For now, experts say vaccination can play a key role in building up immunity to prevent a first, or second, COVID-19 infection.

"Let's not play Russian roulette,” Sette says. “You should be vaccinated because you can't trust that you'll have strong enough immunity that you would be immune to reinfection."

Cheryl Platzman Weinstock is a contributing writer who covers health and science research and its impact on society. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and Kaiser Health News and on NPR.