Community urged to protect themselves from COVID-19 reinfection

The almost 9.5 million Australians who have had COVID-19 should not consider themselves “bulletproof” – they are still at risk of contracting the virus a second, third or even fourth time, a Campbelltown GP has warned.

Dr Ken McCroary said the COVID-19 case numbers at his clinic, Macarthur General Practice, were going ‘gangbusters’.

According to the NSW COVID-19 Weekly Data Overview, it is estimated that of the 639,430 people who were infected with COVID-19 for the first time in January 2022, 20,460 were infected again within 150 days.

We may have seen COVID-19 cases peak this winter, but the risk of reinfection is real.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee says we will likely see reinfection rates rise due to the transmissibility of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants. 

Dr McCroary estimated about 20 per cent of his COVID-positive patients were reinfections, however, he said it was difficult to know for sure because often patients were not testing and/or not reporting their status.

“It’s at least in double figures in our practice at the moment, and I’m waiting to see people with a third infection because that will likely be next.

“It’s not just adults. I’m getting primary school kids getting it for the second time. I’m getting 75-year-old immunosuppressed people getting it for the second time, as well as middle aged and younger adults – it’s the whole spectrum.”

The risk of reinfection is nothing new, with the first confirmed case of reinfection reported in August 2020.

Dr McCroary said COVID-infected patients were immune for about seven days.

“That’s it,” he said. “You’re not protected after the first week, particularly with the rapidly mutating and highly transmissible variants we’re having at the moment.

“I consulted with two patients the other day who’d both picked up COVID-19 a few days apart. They’re in the same household and not isolating from each other. There is no guarantee they have the same strain and they’re not actually safe.

“I’m getting calls from young parents who’ve both tested positive, and the kids are sick but they’re not going to test them, they say there’s no point.”

Dr McCroary said the impact of reinfection on his patients had been much like the impacts of the vaccine itself.

“Some people had more side effects with the first dose and with others, the third dose may have knocked them around – our immune systems are all different. Some people are much worse after their second bout, some are milder, some are same-same.

“I’ve also got patients who are now 14 weeks post COVID and still just as sick as they were at the beginning.”

Dr McCroary said he was concerned South Western Sydney residents were especially vulnerable.

“Our region is very high risk, not just high risk of reinfection, but of deaths,” he said. 

As of 4 August 2022, South Western Sydney had the second highest rate of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the start of the pandemic, after Western Sydney, with 393,885 and 419,177 (respectively).

“Get the vaccine,” he said. “If you get sick, stay home. Ring your doctor straight away because you could qualify for antivirals which will potentially help you get better quicker and keep you out of hospital. 

“Keep social distancing, keep hand sanitising, wear your mask in public places and keep the indoors well ventilated.

“It’s the same message – we still have the same vulnerabilities, we’re at the same risk as before.” 

South Western Sydney PHN (SWSPHN) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Keith McDonald PhD, said

SWSPHN was continuing to support GPs through the pandemic with up-to-date information, providing PPE, coordinating vaccine supplies, working with the South Western Sydney Local Health District and aged care facilities in the coordination of outbreak management, and by funding services to manage COVID-positive patients in the community.

“We are also here to support our community with information and advice,” he said. “Please head to our website, swsphn.com.au, for information about managing COVID-19 at home, links to information for older people and carers, and the multilingual telephone support line. “Our Health Resource Directory website, healthresourcedirectory.org.au, also has reliable information about COVID-19, including specific information about how to manage COVID-19 at home.”