Can you catch the Virus a second time?

I’ve been interested in this question. Cause if you are immune once youve had it, the world is a lot different, than if you could still get it again. And again.

Looks like the answer is: we dunno?

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3. Can I catch COVID-19 a second time?

Catching a coronavirus generally means that person is immune, at least for a time, to repeat infection. But doubts arose regarding COVID-19 in late February when a woman in her late 40s who had been discharged from hospital in Osaka, Japan tested positive a second time. There also a similar case with one of the Diamond Princess passengers, and another in South Korea. These were isolated cases, but more worrying was research from Guangdong province, China reporting that 14% of recovering patients had also retested positive.

However, it is too early to jump to conclusions. These cases have not been fully confirmed, with many possible explanations, including faulty, over-sensitive or over-diligent testing; or that the virus had become dormant for a time and then re-emerged. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stress that our immune response to this particular disease is not yet clearly understood: “Patients with MERS-CoV infection are unlikely to be reinfected shortly after they recover, but it is not yet known whether similar immune protection will be observed for patients with COVID-19.”

In terms of other after-effects, scientists are also currently speculating that coronavirus patients may suffer from reduced lung capacity following a bout of the disease. The Hong Kong Hospital Authority observed that two out of three recovering patients had lost 20-30% of lung function – something that can be treated with physiotherapy.
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4. How long might immunity to COVID-19 last?

“If you get an infection, your immune system is revved up against that virus,” Dr. Keiji Fukuda, director of Hong Kong University’s School of Public Health, told The LA Times. “To get reinfected again when you’re in that situation would be quite unusual unless your immune system was not functioning right.” With many past viruses, immunity can last years – but the reinfection question shows the bigger picture surrounding COVID-19 remains cloudy.

One thing that might help clarify the immunity question is developing serological tests for antibodies to SARS-CoV2, the COVID-19 pathogen. This would not only provide more information about individual immune-system responses, but also able researchers to more accurately identify the total population affected – by detecting people who might have slipped through the net after recovery. No country currently has confirmed access to such a test, according to The Guardian. But numerous scientists around the world – including one in Singapore that has claimed a successful trial – are working on them.
link:https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-recovery-what-happens-after-covid19/