Will Covid reinfections pose increased health risks? Experts arent sure

A recent study states that Covid-19 reinfections could pose additional risks to peoples long-term health as compared to only getting Covid once however some infectious disease experts in the US disagree that there is evidence showing repeat infections are more dangerous.

The issue of the impact of repeated infections is becoming a crucial one in the United States as the Covid-19 pandemic is now tailing off amid a widespread relaxation of any social distancing or restrictions, which has seen many people catch the virus two or more times.

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A second or more Covid infection increases a persons risk of death, hospitalization and various adverse health outcomes, including diabetes and neurological disorders, according to the study published in the Nature Medicine journal that looked at the healthcare database from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Reinfection is consequential in the sense that if you get Covid again, even if you have had it before and even if you have been vaccinated, that still could put you in the hospital, that still in some cases, can result in death, said Dr Ziyad Al-Aly, an author of the study who works as a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University and as chief of research at the Veteran Affairs St Louis Healthcare system.