Four members of a Nebraska family are infected with the new coronavirus – again.
For the second time in recent months, Chuck Conboy Sr., 67, of Papillion, claims that his family has suffered a COVID-19 infection. Conboy, his wife and two children contracted the virus in November, but have fully recovered. Nine weeks later, they all started showing symptoms of the disease again, later testing positive a second time, he said.
“I woke up … and I had a fever. The temperature rose to around 40 degrees, which for me is very high. I thought, ‘My God, not again’,” he told the local KETV news station about the second infection. .
“It hit me like a truck and this time it knocked me over. In fact, this is the first day – day nine – when I got back to normal. If you had asked me yesterday, I don’t even know where I was,” he added.
DOCTOR GIVES FATHER COVID-19 VACCINE AFTER 10 MONTHS OF APARTMENT
Conboy said the virus’s symptoms appeared more quickly the second time compared to the first, noting that his taste and smell “immediately disappeared.”
“[My] the temperature skyrocketed immediately, and it wasn’t just me. This was the whole family, “said Conboy.
Scientists are still studying immunity to the virus after infection, with a November study, considered the most comprehensive to date, finding that immunity can last for more than six months. Meanwhile, a UK study published last month came to a similar conclusion, finding that immunity can last five months or more.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
Still, immunity studies are ongoing, with Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease specialist at Nebraska Medicine, saying that, although rare, reinfections are possible, with those who suffer only a mild case the first time, possibly being at greater risk of a second infection.
“This may be one explanation, that people with very mild illnesses do not have such a strong immune response and do not have such a long lasting response,” Rupp told KETV.