Is reinfection with coronavirus a possibility?
Can you get COVID-19 twice? Yes, but it’s rare
As positive COVID-19 cases in NASHVILLE, Tenn. continue to climb, some who have already been infected are asking if they can get the coronavirus a second time.
Nearly four months after recovering from COVID-19, a Nashville photographer is battling the virus for a second time. Carter Wright traveled to the Big Apple with friends in March when the the pandemic was just beginning.
He was tested positive for the coronavirus in March after his trip to New York City and spent the next few months under the assumption that he’s better and could possibly be immune to the virus. But he says he has tested positive again for COVID-19 for a second time, four months after he first got the virus.
“I personally was in disbelief, It’s super overwhelming and just really did not want to go through all of this again.”
Wright said.
As coronavirus cases have skyrocketed around the country, over the weekend Carter Wright, 29, shared his own experience with the virus in Instagram to make it clear that COVID-19 is real, and harmful.
“Let me be your ‘friend that has corona.’
“Please use me to convince anyone that isn’t taking this seriously or that wants to reopen the economy regardless of loss of life. I say all of this not for sympathy, but to put a face with this pandemic if you don’t have one already,” Wright wrote alongside his post, which has been widely shared on social media.
OK, but… Can you get COVID-19 twice?
Unfortunately, this isn’t unheard of.
“Well we think that actually second cases of COVID are biologically possible, but they must be wonderfully rare,” said Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt infectious disease specialist.
Dr. Schaffner says there are still so many unknowns with this virus, which means we are learning as we go.
“We think once you become infected, you are then protected, and you’ve developed some immunity,” Dr. Schaffner said, “How long that immunity lasts is not certain how strong the immunity is, we’re still not certain.” Read more…
RELATED: Dallas Woman Tests Positive for Coronavirus Again After 4 Months: ‘I Was Floored’
Sources: NBC News, People, NewsChannel5
