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Coronavirus 411

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Yes, you can catch COVID-19 multiple times. In fact, people already have

The Statehouse News Bureau | By Jo Ingles

Published December 30, 2021 at 1:57 PM EST

Medical professionals say it’s true that having COVID gives you some immunity. But it doesn’t make you impervious to being re-infected later. In fact, the state’s health department is tracking cases of re-infection.

Despite notions otherwise, you can get COVID multiple times. And Ohio Dept of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff says the state has been tracking reinfections on its dashboard since this fall.

“The Ohio Dept of Health will be counting any individuals re-infected with COVID19 from September 1 on as a new case and that will be reflected on our dashboards,” Vanderhoff says.

Vanderhoff says for a case to be counted as new, it would have to occur after 90 days from the previous case. And while re-infections are counted as new cases, they are not separated out so there’s no way to know, from looking at the dashboard, the number of them.

Ohio has seen record-high numbers of positive COVID cases during the holiday season. Yesterday, the Ohio Department of Health recorded 20,320 confirmed and probable cases, breaking the record for the most number of positives recorded in one 24 hour period since the pandemic began. Some hospitals are so overwhelmed with patients that the Ohio National Guard has been called in to assist with patient care and other needs.