December the 12th, 2020 – Here in Croatia, more than 136 thousand people have already contracted the coronavirus and had their positive result lab confirmed, but the CNIPH measures and rules that must be followed continue to apply to them because it is not known how long immunity from SARS-CoV-2 actually lasts.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a member of the Croatian Government’s Scientific Advice Council, Ozren Polasek, stated that to date, no special rules for those who have already had the virus have been developed.
”We believe that it’s still necessary for those people to adhere to the CNIPH measures, especially since we now know that it is possible to become infected again within a period of six months, and possibly shorter,” Polasek said for RTL.
A case of reinfection with the novel coronavirus was reported in the continental Croatian town of Bjelovar where a woman contracted coronavirus twice in just three months. She had no symptoms the first time, and probably didn’t develop any antibodies either. As for immunity, it has recently been mentioned that it lasts for three to eight months.
“The claims are different because not enough time has passed to see how long such an immune response lasts,” Polasek explained.
People who have had the coronavirus and no longer have symptoms can go back to work after 10 days. If they then come into contact with a positive person, they don’t have to stay at home. According to the recommendation of the CNIPH, this is valid for six months. Recommendations regarding distance, disinfection and wearing masks must continue to be adhered to.
“For now, there’s no evidence to suggest that immune people can’t transmit the disease and that’s why people who have survived COVID-19 still need to wear a mask,” said Krunoslav Capak, director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health. MP Nino Raspudic, who himself had coronavirus, believes that new measures could be introduced for those who have gotten over the virus, at least while they’re in a familiar environment.
“My lungs are currently weakened, but I had to wear a mask on those weakened lungs all day in Parliament and for six hours at a time, although it has been scientifically proven that I can neither become infected or transmit the virus to others at that point,” he said, referencing the CNIPH measures and a perceived lack of flexibility.
People who have already had coronavirus have a somewhat easier time getting across the border. They don’t have to be retested, so they can, for example, enter and leave neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina without any worries.
“People who have suffered from COVID-19 in the last three months can cross or enter the Republic of Croatia without a PCR test, but the date of arrival must be 14 days from the diagnosis of the disease,” said the head of the Service for Neighbouring Countries of the Police Directorate, Tomislav Kufner. An official document on that doesn’t yet exist, but some countries have introduced an immunity passport which acts as confirmation that you have had coronavirus and that you can freely travel.
Even if you have already had coronavirus, vaccination continues to be recommended for everyone. “What we now know is that the level of antibodies after the illness is proportional to the severity of the clinical picture – the sooner you have a milder form of the clinical picture, the lower the level of those antibodies and as such – the shorter the protection,” said Polasek.
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