What is the reinfection rate of COVID-19?
In this article, we will discuss what is the reinfection rate of COVID-19.
About 5-10% of people are thought to be infected with COVID-19 more than once. The length of immunity people get after contracting coronavirus, is not clear but for 90% it is over five months (Dan et al, 2021). However re-infection does occur.
In New York State, six million people contracted COVID-19 for the first time from January 2021 to September 2022, plus 393,000 cases of people who got repeat cases of COVID-19. That suggests that just over 6 percent of total cases were reinfections.
At the end of September, the Department of Health in Hawaii reported that the percentage of COVID-19 cases involving individuals who had a prior infection has grown to about 10 percent of new confirmed cases.
Hawaii State epidemiologist Sarah Kemble MD, said,
The data on reinfections underscores what we have been saying; that limited immunity from previous infection only lasts so long. Regardless of whether a person has had COVID-19 in the past, they should stay up to date on their vaccinations and boosters to get increased protection from severe illness and hospitalization.”
But. Counting reinfections is difficult
Such data is not easy to validate.
Before the appearance of the Omicron variants in December 2021, the number of people who had COVID-19 more than once was low. However, we think reinfections have increased substantially since the Omicron variants emerged but tracking reinfections accurately is difficult.
To identify reinfections accurately, we need a positive PCR test every time a person has a COVID-19 infection. This is often lacking from data collected.
Summary
We have explained what is the reinfection rate of COVID-19. It occurs in about 5-10% of people.
Other resource
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