COVID-19 fell from the third highest cause of death in the US in 2020 and 2021 to fourth highest in 2022 and tenth highest in 2023. The 2023 death rate from COVID-19 was about 1/9 that of 2021 and 1/4 that of 2022.
Likely reasons are that most of the population has had prior immunological exposure (vaccination and/or prior infection) by 2023, and the most vulnerable people have already died in previous years.
Iāve had Graves for 32 years and dealing with my first bout of Covid and it hit me pretty hard. We have a strong family history of Graves and my mother and brother both have it. We were all diagnosed in our 20ās. I also have thyroid eye disease which manifested years after my Graves diagnosis. Even though I took the radioactive iodine and have been thyroid replacement therapy for years my thyroid antibodies are starting to go off the charts again signaling that Iām liking to relapse into Graves Disease. Your thread reminded to be mindful of a potential relapse being triggered by Covid. Hopefully your daughter continues to improve with her Graves Disease.
Well, Iām happy to report that my sense of taste and smell returnedā¦almost 3 weeks to the day of contracting Covid. I hope I never experience it again!
I have to admit that I feel really, really good for the first time since my first infection in May 2022. Rheumatologist told me that I would continue to improve, and I have! Still some pain in my hands but as long as I wear my cheapo compression gloves (thank you, Amazon, 2 prs/$10) day and night, Iām ok. Still a bit of lumpiness in my calves when I donāt wear compression leg sleeves, but thatās no big deal either. Five 2.5 mg methotrexate tablets once a week seems to be doing the job. Whew!
The headline of this YLE page somewhat obscures the interesting aspect of it, which is comparison to flu in various aspects. It also mentions the ongoing economic cost of healthcare needed for COVID-19.
It was helpful to see the gap in mortality , between flu and Covid, narrowingā¦from COVID risks going down.
DH got COVID in July. He hasnāt had a vaccine in well over a year. I didnāt get COVID when he had it, and we had traveled in the same circles just prior to him getting COVIDā¦but I had my last shot at the very end of February. Maybe it was just good luckā¦or maybe it was the vaccineā¦or maybe a combination of the two.
H and I had shots last fall. He got Covid Christmas Day. I didnāt get it ā¦ but I got it out of the blue a month later.
Still never had it. Still no shots after the initial series, no boosters.
Any data on the length of immunity one has after having an infection? I know one can test positive on PCR for 3 mos but that isnāt super definitive with respect to risk of being re-infected.
My first infection was 8 wks ago. I havenāt been masking since then. I am wondering when I should start masking again.
Honestly, start masking whenever you want to. In my experience, most people arenāt masking at allā¦so the timing of your masking is really at your comfort level. Do what will make you feel most comfortable. Reallyā¦
I understand that. I was wondering if there are any studies or data with respect to level of protection after exposure. Any data on whether the rate of immunity waning over time is related to age, vaccination status, general heath status, etc?
I havenāt seen any definitive studies, but I now simply choose to mask up any time Iām in the vicinity of others (indoors or out) in a group (grocery store, an outdoor concert). And I will be the one masking in the airport, on trains, and even in taxis. I donāt need to be unwell while traveling this next month.
I think the issue isā¦you had one variant, and that might not be the common one moving forward. Soā¦any data could be skewed.
There was a study finding that antibodies were very high in the first three months after infection, then still higher than normal for a few more months.
There have been plenty of studies on the subject, although one of the factors that is sometimes considered and sometimes not is the change in variants.
Perhaps it is not surprising that Delta took over shortly after the original vaccines, XBB took over after the bivalent original/BA.5 version, and JN.1 took over after the XBB.1.5 version. Vaccination (after several months of infections in the latter cases) probably closed the door on the targeted and related variants, leaving room for sufficiently different variants to take over.
This is the type of thing I was looking for. It is from six mos ago regarding JN.1. While it may be different with each variant, it gives me an idea how quickly immunity drops off. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.22.24303193v1
This study investigated the effectiveness of natural infection in preventing reinfection with the JN.1 variant during a large JN.1 wave in Qatar, using a test-negative case-control study design. The overall effectiveness of previous infection in preventing reinfection with JN.1 was estimated at only 1.8% (95% CI: ā9.3-12.6%). This effectiveness demonstrated a rapid decline over time since the previous infection, decreasing from 82.4% (95% CI: 40.9-94.7%) within 3 to less than 6 months after the previous infection to 50.9% (95% CI: ā11.8-78.7%) in the subsequent 3 months, and further dropping to 18.3% (95% CI: ā34.6-56.3%) in the subsequent 3 months. Ultimately, it reached a negligible level after one year.
I talked to D1 and she informed me that her initial symptoms of Graves began within 1 month of her first Covid infection. She went into remission with medication that was later weaned, then had a relapse about a month after her second Covid infection.
Supposedly FDA approval for JN.1/KP.2 vaccines is coming this week.
What was that saying about closing the barn doors after animals have escaped?
Based on the time frame (December 2023 to February 2024), the 3-6 months, 6-9 months, and 9-12 months prior infections were probably XBB related variants. Prior infections more than a year previous were probably BA.5 related variants or even older ones.
It does look like resistance to infection is high up to 6 months after infection, even with a new variant, but falls off rapidly afterward. By a year later, it seems almost assured that the variant of the day is something different that evolved to evade immunity from prior infections (and vaccines).