COVID-19 antibody testing and diagnostic testing are administered at a converted vehicle inspection station, Tuesday, July 7, 2020, in San Antonio. Local officials across Texas say their hospitals are becoming increasingly stretched and are in danger of becoming overrun as cases of the coronavirus surge.
COVID-19 antibody testing and diagnostic testing are administered at a converted vehicle inspection station, Tuesday, July 7, 2020, in San Antonio. Local officials across Texas say their hospitals are becoming increasingly stretched and are in danger of becoming overrun as cases of the coronavirus surge. Associated Press
Herb Scribner
By Herb Scribner
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Immunity to the novel coronavirus may only last a few months, according to a new UK study, raising questions about how people contend with COVID-19.

What’s going on:

  • Researchers at King College found that the antibody response to COVID-19 peak around three weeks after the symptoms begin. Those responses then slowly drop off over the next few weeks, ending about two months after they began, according to CNBC.
  • The study — published in MedRxiv and yet to be peer-reviewed — looked at the antibody levels for 64 different patients and six health care workers, who all tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The study included 31 others who agreed to have antibody tests anyway.
  • 60% of people tested had a “potent” amount of antibodies for 23 days after the beginning of symptoms.
  • 16.7% had “potent” levels 65 days after the symptoms began.
  • Those with severe disease had higher levels of antibodies. Asymptomatic individuals also developed the antibodies, according to CNBC.

This is not the first study that says this

  • Back in June, a study published in Nature Medicine found that antibodies may only last two to three months after someone becomes infected with COVID-19, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.
  • The study — done by researchers from the Wanzhou District of China — reviewed antibodies from 37 asymptomatic people and 37 symptomatic people. Antibodies could not be found in 40% of asymptomatic people and 12.8% of symptomatic people within eight weeks after testing began, according to the study.
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