Staff & Residents at Dublin nursing home catch Covid twice within 10 months.

drunkmonkey

Nursing home residents and staff who had Covid-19 last year are now catching it for the second time, forcing vaccinations to be postponed.

One nursing home operator, who spoke to the Irish Independent , said at least three residents at his facility – who had recovered from Covid-19 last year – had tested positive for the virus in the past two weeks.

They were scheduled to be vaccinated days later – but the inoculations have been postponed until they have recovered. The home is in the greater Dublin area and suffered a serious Covid-19 outbreak in wave one last year.
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/nursing-home-staff-and-residents-infected-for-the-second-time-40029025.html


The article is behind a paywall so I've no idea if the people were sick or just tested positive.
Have to say i'm concerned if natural immunity lasts under a year which the headline suggests.

Well, since there are only a couple of handfulls of confirmed cases of people getting the virus for a second time, it would be very interesting for many people to get the details. It would and should make headlines if accurate.

drunkmonkey

I read the rest of it, it does not say if they were sick either time, what it does say according to Kingston Mills is it's either down to them getting a mild infection the first time or a different variant is responsible for the second infection but we're not testing them to see if it was actually different variants.

Considering it's such a rare event it really should be properly followed up to see what's happening there as it involves multiple people of different ages in the one settings.

Dante

My sister works in a Covid ward in a hospital in London and says that there are quite a few staff members who have caught Covid twice now. Even more interesting is that some have caught it even after having the first dose of the vaccine, including my sister.

Malcomex

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

My sister works in a Covid ward in a hospital in London and says that there are quite a few staff members who have caught Covid twice now. Even more worrying is that some have caught it even after having the first dose of the vaccine, including my sister.

I thought the vaccines just prevented illness and hospitalization ?

Tork

The vaccine doesn't take effect immediately and you're not fully immune until some time after the 2nd jab.

Dante

Malcomex wrote: »

I thought the vaccines just prevented illness and hospitalization ?

Yes may be right there. it seems the hospital staff there are just as in the dark about the jab as many if the public are, myself included. Her symptoms are quite mild so fingers crossed it is effective.

Tork wrote: »

The vaccine doesn't take effect immediately and you're not fully immune until some time after the 2nd jab.

True, which is why it seems quite a gamble delaying the second dose to 12 weeks. They received the first jab in mid December so are now outside the window recommended by Pfizer.

duffman13

Tork wrote: »

The vaccine doesn't take effect immediately and you're not fully immune until some time after the 2nd jab.

You are not fully immune full stop. Vaccine is great and will reduce spread and severity of the virus.

lawrencesummers

Is anyone considering the possibility of false positives?

drunkmonkey

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Is anyone considering the possibility of false positives?

If was up to 3mts after they were first infected I wouldn't think much of it as it's just the pcr picking up remaining fragments of the virus but I've not heard of it picking up trace RNA 10mts later so it's unlikely they were just getting a lot of false positives.

That article leaves a lot of questions unanswered that need to be answered, if we're saying a mild infection doesn't give immunity and the different variants avoid the immune response of each other we've a problem.

drunkmonkey

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

My sister works in a Covid ward in a hospital in London and says that there are quite a few staff members who have caught Covid twice now. Even more interesting is that some have caught it even after having the first dose of the vaccine, including my sister.

Do you mind me asking how sick she was both times, as the professor in the article suggests a mild dose won't trigger a strong enough immune response to avoid reinfection.
He implied it's more likely down to getting a mild dose than a different variant.

FromADistance

duffman13 wrote: »

You are not fully immune full stop. Vaccine is great and will reduce spread and severity of the virus.

Wait until people realise that they might need to get this vaccine every year. There will be craic then. Nobody is talking about that. Nor are they talking about the fact that people are getting infected for a 2nd time - I know of 2 people working in hospital settings who that happen to after Christmas.

Malcomex

FromADistance wrote: »

Wait until people realise that they might need to get this vaccine every year. There will be craic then. Nobody is talking about that. Nor are they talking about the fact that people are getting infected for a 2nd time - I know of 2 people working in hospital settings who that happen to after Christmas.

You're exaggerating

Sure the flu vaccine is annual and it's no big deal

FromADistance

Malcomex wrote: »

You're exaggerating

Sure the flu vaccine is annual and it's no big deal

Exaggerating LOL

Covid is now like getting the flu is it? You had it eh?

drunkmonkey

Annual isn't enough if they were reinfected within a year. It might also need to provide cover for different variants.

CIARAN_BOYLE

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Annual isn't enough if they were reinfected within a year. It might also need to provide cover for different variants.

How bad is it the second time?

If they test positive but are all asymptomatic because antibodies and tcells from the first infection are doing their job this isn't bad news.

Also lab based evidence suggest that vaccines give a stronger immune response than natural infection.

Personally I wouldn't be surprised if we are in a position where the virus is endemic in the community after people are vaccinated. This is to mean its still floating around but as people have an immune response ready they can easily ignore infection.

drunkmonkey

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

How bad is it the second time?

If they test positive but are all asymptomatic because antibodies and tcells from the first infection are doing their job this isn't bad news.

That's the million dollar question, if these people had a mild dose or asymptomatic it's actually good news they had that response without any vaccine.
It's disappointing the Journalist didn't ask a few simple question to give some insight to what's happening.

caveat emptor

It's getting more complicated now with more virus and variants circulating. In Brazil they've confirmed people infected with two different strains simultaneously.


https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-brazil-coinfection/brazil-researchers-find-people-infected-with-two-different-coronavirus-strains-idUSL1N2K32OO

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Researchers in southern Brazil said they have discovered patients infected with two different strains of the new coronavirus simultaneously, reflecting concerns about the growing number of variants in the country.

The researchers, who posted their findings Wednesday on medical website medRxiv, said their study would be the first in the world to confirm co-infection with two strains of the coronavirus. The study has yet to be published in a scientific journal and has not been peer reviewed.

The patients, both in their 30s, were infected in late November with the P.2 variant of coronavirus identified in Rio, also known as the B.1.1.28 lineage, and simultaneously tested positive for a second variant of the virus.

Their symptoms were reportedly mild, with a dry cough in one case, and coughing, sore throat and headache in the second. They did not require hospitalization.

The cases underscore how many variants could already be circulating in Brazil and raise concerns among scientists that the co-existence of two strains in the same body could speed up mutations of new variants of coronavirus.

hmmm

Based on what the experts have been saying, I fully expect to be getting Covid multiple times over my lifetime, the same as common cold viruses. What those experts have been saying is that subsequent infections are expected to be less serious owing to your immune system recognising it and reacting faster each time. The vaccination helps us get to that "less serious" phase quicker as it teaches your body to recognise the virus and avoids the virus being able to migrate down deep into your lungs.

FileNotFound

Just a simple point to make.

Being immune does not stop you getting anything persay.

It simple means that when you get it your immune system deals with it in an efficient effective manner before the virus can do harm.

So it is very possible that people will test positive - does not mean they have no immunity.

I suppose my simple take is that we (at least I) have not seen a person enter hospital in a bad way twice. That is reassuring to me.

Also when you develop natural immunity - your body beats the virus in its own way. So while a vaccine immunity may be effective against all strains we cannot know if any individuals natural immunity will be.

I would not worry unless we really do see people getting properly sick twice. The immunity this really is time will tell so nobody can say it does last until it does.

JP Liz V1

Maybe they caught one of the variant strains, it's a worry that you can get more than once

FileNotFound

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Maybe they caught one of the variant strains, it's a worry that you can get more than once

Even if you have immunity you still technically have to get it before you fight it off.

So immunity doesn't mean you don't contract - just it's killed before harm is done or the person is infectious (usually)

Beatty69

This is not good news. Are we going to end up in a never ending cycle?

niallo27

caveat emptor wrote: »

It's getting more complicated now with more virus and variants circulating. In Brazil they've confirmed people infected with two different strains simultaneously.


https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-brazil-coinfection/brazil-researchers-find-people-infected-with-two-different-coronavirus-strains-idUSL1N2K32OO

Rte will love this, what's better than covid, double covid maybe.

FileNotFound

FileNotFound wrote: »

Even if you have immunity you still technically have to get it before you fight it off.

So immunity doesn't mean you don't contract - just it's killed before harm is done or the person is infectious (usually)

This is the beauty of the J&J vaccine in that it drastically reduced hospitalizations and deaths. Nobody will care if this ends up like a seasonal flu if they know the vaccine they have been given will reduce the infection to a minor inconvenience than a debilitating or fatal infection. My preference at the moment would be to get the J&J vaccine. My own personal and potentially flawed logic.

FileNotFound

[Deleted User] wrote: »

This is the beauty of the J&J vaccine in that it drastically reduced hospitalizations and deaths. Nobody will care if this ends up like a seasonal flu if they know the vaccine they have been given will reduce the infection to a minor inconvenience than a debilitating or fatal infection. My preference at the moment would be to get the J&J vaccine. My own personal and potentially flawed logic.

No flaws. Safety data to date is great and same tech used in the ebola one a few years back.

Solid choice and if they can make it single dose (could change if HA's want higher efficacy) it will be the most effective at actually vaccinating the world.

Do people not get it - you can have a load of viruses in your system - it's whether they can take hold.

Someone having all the strains and no symptoms means they'll be immune to them all.

Immunity is not an invisible shield.