A new study found that people over the age of 65 who recovered from COVID-19 had a 50-50 chance of a second attack within six months of the first illness.
Odds are much better for younger and healthier people, but they are still not a sure thing, according to the Danish study, which was published in the medical journal Lancet.
About 80 percent of healthy people under the age of 65 have not had a second attack in six months since the first COVID-19 disease, according to the study, which looked at 4,000 subjects tested.
The study shows that it remains important for people who have recovered from COVID-19 to increase the immunity offered by vaccination – and to continue with protocols for masking, hand washing and social distancing.
“Our study confirms what a number of others seem to suggest: COVID-19 reinfection is rare in younger and healthier people, but older people are at higher risk of getting it again,” said Dr. Steen Ethelberg. from the Statens Serum Institute in Denmark. said in the study.
Because older people are also more likely to have severe symptoms of the disease and, unfortunately, die, our findings clearly show how important it is to implement policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic, Ethelberg wrote.
“Given what is at stake, the results highlight how important it is for people to adhere to the implementation of policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic.”