Virus review: Scientists say Hong Kong man was infected a second time. Here’s the latest.
University of Hong Kong scientists claim to have the first evidence of someone being reinfected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
Genetic tests revealed that a 33-year-old man returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain in mid-August had a different strain of the coronavirus than the one he’d previously been infected with in March, said Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, the microbiologist who led the work.
The man had mild symptoms the first time and none the second time; his more recent infection was detected through screening and testing at the Hong Kong airport.
“It shows that some people do not have lifelong immunity” to the virus if they’ve already had it, To said. “We don’t know how many people can get reinfected. There are probably more out there.”
The paper has been accepted by the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases but not yet published, and some independent experts urged caution until full results are available.
In other developments:
- Countries around the world are struggling to reopen public places, trying to bring some normalcy to everyday life. But the persistent and highly contagious coronavirus appears to interrupt those efforts at every turn.
- Homeless people are among the most vulnerable populations in the COVID-19 pandemic, yet they’re largely invisible victims.
- Zoom experienced partial outages during the first day of school for thousands of students who are relying on the video conferencing technology to connect with educators.
- The World Health Organization is cautioning that using blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat other patients is still considered an experimental therapy. The United Nations agency said Monday that preliminary study results are inconclusive and more rigorous research is underway.
- Just as millions of children head back to school, the World Health Organization says kids aged 6 to 11 should wear masks in some cases to help fight the spread of coronavirus.
- Thousands of oil and gas operations, government facilities and other sites won permission to stop monitoring for hazardous emissions or otherwise bypass rules intended to protect health and the environment because of the coronavirus outbreak.
- The coronavirus is shaking up America’s liquor laws. At least 33 states and the District of Columbia are temporarily allowing cocktails to-go during the pandemic. Only two — Florida and Mississippi — allowed them on a limited basis before coronavirus struck, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
- Angry spectators who couldn’t get into the Idaho House of Representatives for a special session to deal with the coronavirus pandemic Monday shattered a glass door and rushed into the gallery that had limited seating because of the virus, including at least one person carrying an assault-style weapon.
- The board of directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has voted unanimously to reschedule this winter’s two Era Committee elections because of concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The College Football Playoff unveiled a revised schedule Monday for its weekly rankings, with the first set pushed back two weeks to Nov. 17 and the final list now on tap for Dec. 20. The pandemic has caused the 10 major college football conferences to rearrange their schedules, with some delaying the start 1-3 weeks and others postponing altogether.
For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for the latest virus numbers.
