13 sailors from USS Theodore Roosevelt test positive after recovering

[SoonerPride]

This news tidbit should get more widespread play and discussion. Does this mean a vaccine is impossible? Does it mean immunity is short lived? Or not even possible? What DOES it mean?

This scares me to my core.

Thirteen sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier have tested positive for covid-19 after recovering from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Politico reports.
The Navy initially said Saturday afternoon five sailors had tested positive a second time. But Politico, citing two unnamed defense officials, reported later another eight sailors had been diagnosed again.
An outbreak on the ship began in March, forcing the Roosevelt to divert to Guam, where sailors spent weeks in isolation or quarantine. In total, the military has reported more than 1,000 confirmed cases among the crew of 4,800.
The five sailors who initially tested positive a second time had gone through at least two weeks of isolation and tested negative twice in a row before they were allowed back on the ship. Once they returned to the ship, they developed flu-like symptoms before they tested positive a second time.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Friday that treating the virus was “a learning process."
“It shows us what we’ve known for a long time — that this is a very stubborn infectious disease,” Hoffman said during a news briefing.
A Navy spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/17/coronavirus-update-us/?tid=a_classic-iphone&no_nav=true

[lapfog_1]

1. antigen test sensitivity

meaning that it is possible that the negative tests were false negatives.

The virus was never completely gone.

And that is troubling... because what it means is that the antibodies made (by our immune system) are not "perfect" at killing the virus completely (if the assumption of false negatives is true).

The other possibility is that this is a second (or third...) infection, meaning that the immune response (the antibodies produced to fight the first infection) are either short-lived or possibly ineffective against the second infection due to mutation or other reason.

Either way, this is good news.

[still_one]

2. From my understanding that to determine if a person has tested positive for Covid 19

they need to test negative twice within a 24-48 hour period to determine if they have recovered

"Medically, a person must be fever-free without fever-reducing medications for three consecutive days. They must show an improvement in their other symptoms, including reduced coughing and shortness of breath. And it must be at least seven full days since the symptoms began.
In addition to those requirements, the CDC guidelines say that a person must test negative for the coronavirus twice, with the tests taken at least 24 hours apart.
Only then, if both the symptom and testing conditions are met, is a person officially considered recovered by the CDC.
This second testing requirement is likely why there were so few official recovered cases in the US until late March. Initially, there was a massive shortage of testing in the US.
So while many people were certainly recovering over the last few weeks, this could not be officially confirmed. As the country enters the height of the pandemic in the coming weeks, focus is still on testing those who are infected, not those who have likely recovered."

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-what-it-means-to-recover-from-corona-and-what-you-can-do-after

[Baltimike]

3. The link takes me to Obama

is there a better one?

[SoonerPride]

5. Here from Politico

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/05/16/uss-theodore-roosevelt-sailors-test-positive-coronavirus-261873

[Baltimike]

9. Thank you. nt

[Yonnie3]

6. You have to scroll way down.

I think this is one of those pages that updates with newer stories added to the top.

Here is a link to the Politico page they cite https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/16/uss-theodore-roosevelt-sailors-test-positive-coronavirus-261873

[Baltimike]

10. Thank you. nt

[ecstatic]

4. Sounds like HIV or Hep C

You can potentially manage the severity of the symptoms but it will always be in your system, ready to flare up and potentially kill you.

Maybe it isn't really a coronavirus either.

Researchers need to figure this out, quick, especially if they're giving plasma to certain people.

[FarPoint]

11. Damn...you make a seriously good point.

If we are giving convalescent covid-19 plasma...and this is possibly permanent as a colonized virus...YIKES !!!!

Yes, more research ASAP...

[ananda]

7. Perhaps there was something wrong with the tests.

I have a lot of doubts about the quality of the tests
used by the USA.

Am I wrong?

[crimycarny]

12. Earlier tests were very unreliable

I read some had almost a 30% failure (false positive AND false negative). Are those sailors re-testing positive now also showing symptoms? The article is vague on this. It states that some soldiers in May tested NEGATIVE despite showing COVID-19 symptoms. It also states soldiers showed “expanded symptoms”, but that statement was in the context of the general population of the soldiers trying to return to the ship, not those who re-tested positive. Of those who re-tested positive the article states:

"This week, a small number of TR Sailors who previously tested COVID positive and met rigorous recovery criteria have retested positive," said Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Myers Vasquez. "These protocols resulted in a small number of close contacts who were also removed from the ship, quarantined and tested.“

Ok...they met rigorous recovery criteria. So do they still meet that criteria despite testing positive?

I just want facts, not hype. I feel like the news agencies are addicted to this crisis in a way to slant the worst case scenario — disaster porn.

All the articles about the number of cases increasing in states that have opened are missing critical information. Are the numbers increasing because they are increasing their testing??? No information on that. We should expect numbers to increase as testing increases—what about deaths? Are those flattening or increasing at the same or higher rate?

[stopdiggin]

13. my first thought too

as I understand it a lot of the "reinfection" discussion is pointing toward poor testing. We would have to know what kind of testing the Navy was employing .. and what kind of standard they required to be deemed "recovered." But it wasn't that long ago that there was a certain amount of "debunking" on the reinfection story. And therefore .. some doubt attached to this one.

[snort]

8. It would be nice to know if

the re-infected are at least recovering more quickly.