Well, reinfections are possible with many infections. The main question is: how long does the acquired immunity helps. 4 and a half months is long in comparison how long this pandemic exists. So, if this is a real thing (I am not convinced yet), then it should start to happen more often from now.

Ah, the chemotherapy is an important additional information. It is known, that chemo does affect the immune system. So this case probably is an exception. Thanks for the info.

It's also possible the virus was jettisoned out of the body so quickly by the innate immune system that he didn't have the time to build up a defense. We do know this Hong Kong man tested negative for antibodies right after he recovered the first time around. And since he didn't develop any symptoms, it seems feasible to suppose he still had protective, but not sterilizing immunity. 

Of course, no one can be sure yet. It's hard to extrapolate anything from a sample of one among potentially hundreds of millions. But mere statistics would tell someone, somewhere, would have drawn the shortest straw and be reinfected by now, so yeah.

Weekly update. Slight reduction in reported deaths this week, small increase in reported cases, pretty much flat.

Worldwide: 1.80 million reported cases last week (up from 1.76 million) with 38.2 K deaths (down from 40.0K)
USA: 299.5K reported cases last week (down from 316.7K) with 6,701 reported deaths (down from 7,700)


Asia: 665.9K new cases (up from 632.2K) and 10,659 deaths (up from 10,383)
South America: 504.7K new cases (up fro 408.4K) and 12,619 deaths (up from 12,444)
North America: 370.6K new cases (down from 391.0K) and 10,997 deaths (down from 12,160)
Europe: 196.4K reported cases last week (up from 184.5K) with 2,118 reported deaths (down from 2,313)
Africa: 60.6K reported cases last week (down from 71.8K) with 1,767 reported deaths (down from 2,234)
Oceania: 1,366 new cases last week (down from 1,952) with 113 deaths (up from 98)



India leading, South Africa, Australia and China declining.
South Korea trying to stop the latest out break.

Europe is still increasing but some have managed to start heading back down

Being a Superpower doesn't mean you need to be very developed - you just need a strong military. Just look at the Huns if you want a historical precedent.

@italic: The US gets it's own share of viruses that originate there, mostly by malpractice in food handling or simply due to anti-vaxxers making it too easy for diseases to spread. As such, I don't see too much difference in the end between the US and China in this regard.

Oh, and as an European, reading about an American complaining about sanitation standards is just funny as hell.

Looks like the shortest straw isn't reinfection(which is probably quite common and minor and/or non-disease causing) but is actually reinfection + the illness being worse the second time around.

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-reinfection-case-confirmed-us.html

"The 25-year-old first tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-April after he developed typical symptoms of the disease, including headache, cough, sore throat, nausea and diarrhea. Within 10 days, his symptoms had resolved and he later tested negative for the virus twice.

But at the end of May, the patient developed a fever, headache, dizziness, cough, nausea and diarrhea once more. Within a week, his blood oxygen levels dropped and he was hospitalized, where he received oxygen support. Finally, 48 days after he tested positive for the coronavirus the first time, he tested positive once again."

Statistically speaking, there should be at least 9,000 people in the state of New York who received a false positive result from the PCR test, and 180 who received two false positives and are probably 100% sure they had the disease. Meanwhile, with millions of cases and constant monitoring, no more than a handful ever presented with a plausible case of reinfection, and none that has been peer reviewed. I wouldn't put too much stock on it when Covid-19 symptoms are so generic, and both sample contamination and false positives happen.

Looks like Berlin and London are having massive protests gathering against covid-19 restrictions.

I don't actually why the people protesting here in germany. Pretty much everything is possible again. Yes, you may have to wear a mask in certain situations. End of the world!  But you can go to a restaurant, schools are reopened, even cinemas (which I think are actually a big risk). So what to protest against?

Brothels I guess.