Today, a Spanish healthcare worker baffled the minds of many scientists as she tested positive for the Covid-19 virus twice within twenty days. The 31-year-old tested positive for the Delta strain in December. Soon after testing positive in December, she also tested positive in January with the Omicron variant.
The Spanish woman was seemingly asymptomatic after having tested positive in December. However, within three weeks, the healthcare worker started developing a cough and fever, which prompted her to take another Covid test in January.
This gap between infections is the smallest window ever known. The healthcare worker had been fully vaccinated and got her booster shot twelve days before falling ill. Researchers say this case alone emphasizes the importance of caution. One of the study’s authors, Dr. Gemma Recio of the Institut Catala de la Salut in Spain, said it highlights the potential of the Omicron variant to evade previous immunity.
Scientists believe that down the line, most people will have been infected with the Covid virus at least twice, if not more, in their lifetimes. They elaborated that most reinfections would initially come from those infected by the Alpha or Delta variants.
With countries opening up worldwide and testing for reinfection being required only 90 days following your initial diagnosis, one might feel a slight sense of whiplash. BBC’s health officials say, “Nearly 900,000 people have potentially been infected twice with Covid up to the start of April. It is difficult to pin down an exact number because only whole-genome sequencing can confirm different strains that cause the infections, and very few positive tests go through this process.”
With projected numbers of the past, one is forced to look forward as the world re-opens and attempts to get to a new kind of normal.
