If you caught Covid on this holiday, here’s what you need to know

This focus of the CDC changed in the last days of December. He now says people who test positive for Covid-19 must self-isolate for five days. After that, if they don’t have any symptoms or their symptoms go away – they are fever-free for 24 hours without taking antipyretic drugs – they should follow that up with five days of wearing a mask around others. The CDC says it’s optional to take an antigen test on day 5; if it is positive, you must remain in isolation until day 10.

This should minimize the risk of the virus spreading. The likelihood of a person being contagious after 10 days is low if their symptoms have improved and their fever is gone, experts say.

If you and the people around you wear masks, you are still taking the proper precautions, he said.

“You don’t know who in your universe is contagious,” Cohen said. Just because a person had the Covid five days ago does not mean that they should be considered more dangerous. “What about the guy next to you who has never been tested who is asymptomatic and has more copies than me? We should act like we assume everyone has Covid.”

Am I now less likely to contract Covid-19 again?

The infection provides some natural immunity to the coronavirus, but it’s not that simple.

“We often talk about immunity to this virus as if it’s a yes or a no. You are either immune or you are not. But Mother Nature rarely works like that,” said

Immunity is on a continuum. This can change over time.

Covid-19 is not chickenpox, for example. “In chickenpox, you’re not going to get chickenpox anymore, but it’s, you know, a high bar,” Cohen said.

“I wish you could say, once you catch Covid you never catch it again. It’s not that kind of virus,” he said. “So we know that with the re-infection data, you’re not immune to it just because you’ve had a previous infection. There are things you catch and then you never catch again, but it’s is one of those things where, yeah, you’re going to keep getting it. ”

But, experts say, don’t go wild. Take your precautions.

“I wouldn’t say that anyone should feel comfortable, if they’ve had an infection, to be able to run around feeling safe from re-infection or complications,” Snyder said. “It offers some protection. I wouldn’t count on it for 100% protection.”

At some point, Wohl said, this coronavirus might look more like the common cold – another coronavirus – and people will catch it every few years, but it might not be as bad, and there will be treatments. easy to access. But those days are not yet here.

Does getting sick with one variant protect against another?

After any illness related to Covid-19, your body is usually able to detect the coronavirus.

“Regardless of the variant, your body is now better able to recognize this virus in the future. It’s stronger, it’s better prepared,” Snyder said. But exactly how prepared is not entirely clear.

The Delta and Omicron variants were in circulation during the holidays. Catching one of them could still leave you vulnerable to the other.

“The degree of cross-protection of Delta and Omicron is not yet well known,” Cohen said. “It’s a complicated answer in general, but for a simplistic answer the answer is that having a natural infection provides some immunity and probably provides some cross immunity, but the magnitude of the cross immunity is not. known.”

If the Omicron infection makes people less susceptible to Delta infections, that could be a good thing, the researchers noted. “If so, the incidence of severe Covid-19 disease would be reduced and the infection could shift to become less disruptive to individuals and society,” Alex Sigal and Khadija Khan of Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, and their colleagues wrote in its report.

But remember, it’s not clear what other variations may arise after these, or how different they could be from Delta or Omicron.

What if I got sick but hadn’t been vaccinated or boosted? Do I still need a shot?

Experts say yes.

With this particular coronavirus, your immune response is better with a vaccine than with a natural infection, Vermund said. It is not entirely clear why.

Studies on re-infection with Covid-19 show this to be true. Reinfection was more common in a person with natural immunity than in a vaccinated person.

“The chances are much lower if you have received a vaccine – not even boosted, just vaccinated – of being re-infected compared to if you had not been vaccinated and infected before,” Wohl said.

“We encourage anyone who has had an infection to get vaccinated because vaccination helps the body prepare by making a more robust set of antibodies,” Snyder said. “They bind more tightly, and especially the boosters are larger. They are able to recognize the differences in the virus.”

After a vaccine, any re-infection would likely produce much less severe illness.

What if I was boosted and then caught the Covid? Can I throw caution to the wind afterwards?

If you’ve had a breakthrough infection, your immune system is well prepared and ready to fight off the coronavirus when it meets it again, Wohl said. Your body should be better prepared if you meet Omicron again, but there is no absolute guarantee that you would be protected if, for example, you were wading through an unmasked crowd at a concert.

“We’re in the middle of the surge wave. It’s the worst time to be out there without a mask and around other people’s noses and throats,” Wohl said.

Moreover, again, you cannot be sure that the virus you come into contact with will be the same variant that you caught before.

“The reason the person who has had Covid and been boosted still wants to use common sense is because we don’t yet understand what other variants will be available and how they will react to them,” Cohen said.

Can I have a long Covid after Omicron? Or could my kids get the MIS-C?

The Omicron variant is too new for experts to know anything about its long-term effects.

“We don’t know yet,” Snyder said. “It’s too early to know.