People older than 65 who have recovered from COVID-19 have a 50-50 chance of a second attack within six months of their first illness, a new study has found.
The chances are much better for younger, healthier people, but according to the Danish study, published in the medical journal Lancet, it is still not certain.
About 80 percent of healthy people under the age of 65 did not have a second attack within six months of a first COVID-19 disease, according to the study, which looked at 4,000 subjects.
The study shows that it remains important for people who have recovered from COVID-19 to increase the immunity provided by vaccination – and to continue with protocols for masking, hand washing and social distance.
“Our study confirms what a number of others seem to suggest: reinfection with COVID-19 is rare in younger, healthy people, but the elderly are at greater risk of catching it again,” said Dr. Steen Ethelberg of the Statens Serum Institute in Denmark said. said in the study.
“As older people also experience more severe disease symptoms and die sadly, our findings show how important it is to implement policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic,” Ethelberg wrote.
“Given the question at stake here, the results highlight how important it is for people to apply policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic.”