Dear Reader:

Worldometer (Aug 30): Over 25 million cases and almost 850 thousand deaths worldwide. Over 6 million cases and almost 187 thousand deaths in the U.S.

Yesterday (Aug 29), the following numbers are the numbers of new deaths were reported in the following countries:  954 new U.S., 944 in India,  904 in Brazil, 552 in Mexico, 238 in South Africa, 17  in Australia, 12 in the UK, 9  in Italy (the day before yesterday), 5  in Canada, 5 in South Korea, 3 in Germany, 2 in Hong Kong, 1 in Zimbabwe, 0 in China (none since April 18).

Yahoo News, First confirmed case of Covid-19 reinfection is “not surprising”, doctors say (Aug 29): “researchers at the University of Hong Kong have confirmed the first instance of a patient being reinfected with coronavirus a second time, suggesting that immunity to the virus may be short-lived. The patient, a 33-year-old man tested positive for the virus in March and then again in August after returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain. But it’s not all bad news; this man’s case demonstrates that the immune response, while not able to completely ward off a second infection, may be robust enough to prevent serious illness the second time around.

“in the family of coronaviruses, immunity is generally temporary and lifelong immunity was unlikely to be acquired through one infection alone. ‘Think about a common cold.. We know people have recovered from viruses and get them again- usually not as severe, maybe they have some protection from the previous exposure”.

“This was true of the patient observed in the Hong Kong study. The 33-year-old had mild symptoms including a cough, fever and sore throat for several days during his first infection, but was asymptomatic the second time he contacted the virus…

“Tis reinfection shows us that it is probably not a viable strategy,’ Kass says of herd immunity. ‘In fact, it was probably never a viable strategy, because.. there are multiple strains of the virus that can infect you, then herd immunity, natural immunity, does not really have a leg to stand on.”

anita