People over 65 who have recovered from COVID-19 have a 50-50 chance of having a second attack within six months of their first illness, a new study finds.
The odds are much higher for younger, healthier people, but still not certain, according to the Danish study, which was published in the medical journal Lancet.
According to the study, 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, looking at 4,000 subjects.
The study shows that it remains important for people who have recovered from COVID-19 to receive the immunity boost from vaccination – and to continue masking, hand washing, and social distancing protocols.
“Our study confirms what a number of others seemed to suggest: re-infection with COVID-19 is rare in younger, healthy people, but the elderly are at greater risk of getting it again,” Dr. Steen Ethelberg of the Statens Serum Institute in Denmark said in the study.
“Since older people are also more likely to have serious disease symptoms and, unfortunately, die, our findings highlight the importance of implementing policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic,” Ethelberg wrote.
“Given what is at stake, the results highlight the importance of people adhering to implementing policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic.”