NEW ORLEANS — There is some promising news about the coronavirus. New findings may mean that there is more protection from the virus in the community than doctors thought earlier.
That is the word on a discovery from new research led by scientists at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
New research suggests that people who were infected with SARS-CoV-2, and only had mild symptoms, meaning it didn't progress to where they were very sick in the hospital with COVID-19, they have protective immunity three months later.
“Before we started, this whole thing started, I think a lot of scientists were worried that even preexisting immunity wouldn't be protective for long and this is showing that it's longer lasting than we thought too, which is important,” said Dr. James McLachlan, an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane School of Medicine.
And there were two different kinds of immune cells and memory to make more if you're exposed again. So why is this important? You've heard the phrase “herd immunity.” That means many of us have immunity protection, so if we're exposed, the virus won't make us sick, and that in turn protects the people with no immunity because the virus is less likely to be passed to others.
“We’re probably underestimating how many people have already been infected and may have an immune response that is protective,” Dr. McLachlan said.
Dr. McLachlan worked in the past with Dr. Marion Pepper, one of the researchers on the pre-print paper. And while the findings still need to be peer reviewed and scrutinized by other scientists before it is published, he says the findings are impressive.
But here's the big question: If you've already been infected with the coronavirus and have protection, does that mean you can stop wearing a mask?
He says, “No,” not so fast.
“It's still possible that folks who are protected from disease, may be able to continue to infect other people, and if that's the case, which we don't know, then you certainly can not do all of these things where you might expose other folks to the virus,” he explained.
So until scientists find that piece of the puzzle, wear your mask.
And the doctor says there is another reason to wear your mask. Flu season is just around the corner and masks are proven to protect against the spread of the flu virus.