{"id":4414,"date":"2023-08-22T18:59:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T23:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/?p=4414"},"modified":"2023-08-22T19:15:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T00:15:39","slug":"how-bad-is-a-second-or-third-or-fourth-case-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/2023\/08\/22\/how-bad-is-a-second-or-third-or-fourth-case-of-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"How Bad Is a Second (or Third or Fourth) Case of Covid?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NYT<\/a> Reinfections are becoming more common. Experts are still unsure about how damaging they can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctors and scientists who study Covid-19 agree that for most people, getting infected for a second \u2014 or third or fourth \u2014 time is basically inevitable. The longer the virus sticks around, the more common<\/a> repeat infections have and will become, especially in light of the summer uptick<\/a> and a new dominant variant<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no risk-free Covid infection. But researchers are trying to untangle just how damaging repeated infections might be \u2014 whether symptoms tend to become more or less severe from one bout to the next, and whether one\u2019s risk of developing long Covid increases after multiple illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a dearth of data on Covid outcomes, including what proportion of people with repeat infections go on to develop longer-term complications, said Dr. Marc Sala, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive COVID-19 Center. But here\u2019s what we know so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n