Why? Shouldn't we all be immune at this point?
This was sent to me by someone in the hospital. It may clarify your question
Hi,
To those of you who don't know me - I've been a nurse practitioner for the past 10 years, 7 of which have been spent working in emergency medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital.
I have received numerous questions about the current situation and many questions about hosting ppl or going away for pesach, especially if everyone already had COVID-19...
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly BEG everyone to stay home and not invite any company to stay with them. This virus has already overwhelmed our state and local health care systems. It is more contagious than anything we’ve seen in the past and spreads very easily, even from those who are not showing any symptoms of infection.
The thought of "we all already had the virus, so we can all get together" is FALSE. Medical professionals do not understand everything about this virus yet. Although there is hope that once a person has it, they have developed immunity, there is no proof that they cannot get it again. In fact, there are suspicions among infectious disease and virology experts that there may be two strains to the infection and that the virus may be capable of mutating. We also don't know how long immunity lasts. There have been cases outside the US of patients having the infection more than once. Until there is better understanding about the nature of this virus, it is not safe to assume that once you have it, you are immune.
Based on recommendations from medical experts, Rabbonim in the Five Towns and Bergen County are BEGGING community members to "shelter in place", meaning stay home and do not host any company. EVEN IF EVERYONE HAS ALREADY HAD THE VIRUS AND RECOVERED. I have not seen any local rabbonim publish anything of the sort as of yet, but I am personally begging everyone to please STAY HOME and not host any company. I realize this is difficult for many, but it is necessary.
One final point to remember:
This disease is affecting adults of ALL AGES and is BH sparing most children. If this disease was affecting our young children, our parents and grandparents would do everything in their power to protect them. PLEASE LET'S DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO PROTECT OUR PARENTS, FAMILIES and COMMUNITY.
For those of you who have been on lockdown for the past few weeks, THANK YOU. I know how difficult it is to be stuck at home all day with a house full of kids. I am also stuck at home on my days off from work as I try to make pesach with cooped up kids running around and no possibility of having cleaning help. It is so challenging. But it can really make a huge difference.
Thanks for listening,
Dina Mounitz