Past SARS-CoV-2 Infection Mostly Protects Survivors

A large study of UK healthcare workers finds that immunity after coronavirus infection lasts for months, but those with antibodies may still be able to carry and spread the virus upon reexposure.

Written byMax Kozlov

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Immune responses from a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection reduce survivors’ risk of reinfection by more than 83 percent for at least five months, according to preliminary data from a study of more than 20,000 UK healthcare workers published by Public Health England. The researchers caution that people previously infected may still be able to transmit the virus.

“Overall I think this is good news,” Imperial College London epidemiologist Susan Hopkins, a senior medical adviser to Public Health England (PHE), tells The Guardian. “It allows people to feel that prior infection will protect them from future infections, but at the same time it is not complete protection, and therefore they still need to be careful when they are out and about.”

Between June and November last year, the researchers monitored, through monthly serological tests and PCR tests twice a month, the infection rates in those who had been ...

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Meet the Author

Max Kozlov
Max is a science journalist from Boston. Though he studied cognitive neuroscience, he now prefers to write about brains rather than research them. Prior to writing for The Scientist as an editorial intern in late 2020 and early 2021, Max worked at the Museum of Science in Boston, where his favorite part of the job was dressing in a giant bee costume and teaching children about honeybees. He was also a AAAS Mass Media Fellow, where he worked as a science reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Read more of his work at www.maxkozlov.com.
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