CDC researching cases of possible reinfection of COVID-19

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is in the early stages of investigating possible cases of COVID-19 re-infection and asking states for information for that research.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ryan Westergaard said in a media call Thursday he does not believe any Wisconsin cases have become a part of that research at this time.

Last week, DHS sent out an alert to health departments letting them know that the CDC was looking to have departments send case information to it that meets the criteria for possible re-infection. They are direct to send patient information (that does not include personally identifiable information) to

developed by the Infectious Disease Society of America.

According to the alert, reports from China and South Korea have described instances of re-infection from people who have previously recovered from COVID-19 with or without symptoms. It is not known yet the extent of that happening in the United States.

The alert stated the criteria the case needs to meet are:

• Adults age 18 or older,

• Laboratory-confirmed positive case with clinical recovery for about 10 days after symptoms start, or after diagnosis for those that are symptom-free,

• And any one of the following:

• Two documented negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests followed by a positive result;

• Recurrence of symptoms with positive PCR results;

• Positive PCR results for more than 30 days without any recurrence of symptoms.