In this July 6, 2020, file photo, a ventilator helps a COVID-19 patient breath inside the Coronavirus Unit in a Houston hospital. Hospital data related to the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. will now be collected by a private technology firm, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a move the Trump administration says will speed up reporting but one that concerns some public health leaders
A ventilator helps a COVID-19 patient breath inside the coronavirus unit in a Houston hospital on July 6, 2020. David J. Phillip, Associated Press
Herb Scribner
By Herb Scribner
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Experts appear to agree that people can contract the novel coronavirus twice, despite earlier belief that wasn’t the case, according to USA Today.

What’s going on:

  • Experts said more testing will need to be done to prove whether or not people can get COVID-19 twice. And, if it’s possible, how many people can get it twice.
  • “The possibility of reinfection is certainly real. And one that I am seeing repeatedly on the front lines,” Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told USA Today.
  • Glatter said he has cared for a “number of patients” who have tested negative for COVID-19 and only experienced mild symptoms, according to USA Today. Soon after, they’ll see a resurgence of symptoms. These patients said the second time around is worse than the first.
  • He said: “These patients develop difficulty breathing, leading to hypoxia, aches, chest pain, with recurrent and unrelenting fevers and chills.”
  • Dr. Daniel Griffin, chief of infectious diseases at ProHEALTH Care in New York, told USA Today: “We are months away from knowing for certain if reinfections are possible or a significant issue.”

Getting a second positive test:

  • In March, a report from the South China Morning Post suggested that 10% of patients in China tested positive for COVID-19 after getting discharged from the hospital.
  • Doctors said anywhere between 3% and 7% of patients were reinfected the virus, as I wrote for Deseret.com.
  • However, there was no data about whether the patients were contagious the second time.
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