I’m living with two COVID positive people (likely omicron but not typed). We tried quarantining from each other, but already had a few days of exposure before we realized, and after trying for a couple days, realized it wasn’t possible in the house.
I’m vaxxed, boosted in November (all moderna), and I’ve had two negative rapid tests since the family tested positive. I’ve had no symptoms. I figure either my booster is working and I didn’t get it, or I got a case so mild that rapid tests didn’t detect it. The family is on the road to recovery.
So what does this mean for my immunity now? Am I more immune because my system saw it and fought it off? Am I less immune because it has been besieged by the virus for over a week now and is tired?
Not a doctor, but this is my mental model. You certainly had plenty of exposure, so clearly your immune system is working very well against whatever strain of covid you were exposed to. I would expect that you’d be very unlikely to get that strain in the near (several months) future, even given more substantial exposure. You also likely have additional immunity against other strains, but that’s even harder to quantify.
I don’t think you’d be less immune unless you’re feeling run down. The only way you’d be more immune than without exposure is if your body made new antibodies to the virus. The only way you can really tell is if you get an antibody test that tests specifically for the anti-N antibodies. You would only have those antibodies if you were infected.
Not qualified to answer but happy to offer my unfounded speculation. I’d say you’re no more or less immune than you were before, but this exposure has shown that you’re very well-protected.
I appreciate all the responses. I assumed there’s no answer possible without antibody testing, and I’m not exactly a priority for testing at this point. Thanks, and I’m totally open to more unfounded speculation.
I’m not sure even an antibody test could help answer the question. Maybe there are more specific/precise tests than the one I took, but that one only had two possible results: yes you have COVID antibodies, or no you don’t. Nothing about how robust they are or which variant they’re for. I wish there were a better way to answer this question to help all of us make more educated risk assessments.