Covid Reinfections: Covid Is Not A One And Done Virus

Covid reinfections have become a fact of life and second and sometimes third coronavirus cases are becoming more common. According to Dr. Dushyantha Jayaweera, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Miami Health System, "It manages to elude our immune system." Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 are currently the most dominant strains in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They've proven to be highly transmissible and appear to dodge the immunity in people who have had both vaccinations and prior infections.

These newer sub-variants of omicron are so good at evading your antibodies that you can catch covid again even if you had the original version of omicron. Covid will continue to mutate because that's what viruses do.

Precautions to help minimize our risk for reinfection include:

• Get vaccinated and boosted (new omicron-targeting vaccines are expected to be on the the market by this fall)

• Wear a mask

• Wash your hands

• Avoid crowded indoor places with poor ventilation