Michael Phillips about what we can expect from life with COVID as we know it.

“I think it shifted our game plan for sure.” Now more than ever the focus of prevention efforts is on protecting the ones at a greater risk of severe illness — and protecting yourself from COVID reinfection means also “protect[ing] the vulnerable.”.

This is another complicated question — especially for sufferers of long COVID, who appear to harbor low, even undetectable levels of the virus for weeks and months.

For mild to moderate cases, people who test positive for COVID can expect their infection to clear within five to 10 days after their symptoms arose, or since their confirmed test result.

Nascent research suggests that the average immune system can fend off COVID reinfection for three to five months after the previous bout.

That’s why, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who had a confirmed infection within the previous 90 days are not expected to quarantine after coming in contact with another infected individual.

While those who survive COVID appear to be largely protected from repeat or severe illness for up to five months after the previous infection, there isn’t enough data available yet to be certain how long those COVID-specific antibodies linger, or even to confirm that the presence of antibodies guarantees immunity, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

They begin to form within the first few days infection or vaccination, and continue to build for several weeks until they peak at around three months thereafter — when your COVID defenses are at their strongest.

“Those appear to stay much more robust,” said Phillips, adding, that “the T-cell response is probably more important for response to viral infections” in the long run.

Regardless of type, antibodies are known to wane after about six months since last infection or booster, making reinfection more likely to occur.