Washington Examiner – by Mike Brest
There apparently have been some people who have recovered from the coronavirus, only to then test positive for it a second time in Wuhan, China.
A number of people who contracted the virus in Wuhan, the original epicenter of its global spread, recovered from it and tested negative, only to test positive for it again, NPR reported Friday. Based on data acquired from quarantine facilities in the area, about 5-10% of patients deemed to have “recovered” from the virus tested positive later on.
NPR interviewed four people in Wuhan, which is the capital of the central province of Hubei, all of whom tested positive twice. All of them got sick and were released from hospital care after their condition improved, and they tested negative for the virus. However, after some time, they tested positive again, with one test occurring as a requirement for seeking medical care for an unrelated issue, but none of them experienced the typical symptoms associated with the virus.
The time from being declared “recovered” to the retest ranged from a few days to a few weeks. The four people are quarantined under medical observation, and it’s unknown whether they are infectious and why they tested positive after the negative test result.
More than 575,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus globally, and it’s resulted in more than 26,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Additionally, almost 130,000 people who have contracted the virus have recovered.
Soooo…Then what’s the point of developing a vaccine if your body can’t develop an immunity to it?