People Who Have Not Tested Positive for COVID-19 – NBC New York (47)

NEW YORK – At this point in the pandemic, just weeks away from completing its third year, most people have contracted COVID-19 despite their best efforts to cover up, social distancing, and get vaccinated against the virus. .

Whether people tested positive for the virus in the early days of the pandemic, last winter during the surge of the highly contagious variant of Omicron, or anywhere in between, it’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t contracted COVID-19. . However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who haven’t tested positive yet.

There’s a new classification for some of the lucky few who dodged the virus: “never-covider“.

New York Times reporters recently discussed the rare phenomenon of people with natural immunity to COVID-19 who have gotten out of control in recent years. The mystery behind his escape could be a clue to future treatments for the coronavirus.

Take HIV, for example. A mutation resistant to the virus helped lead to a breakthrough in treatment and helped cure some people of HIV.

The pandemic is about to enter its fourth year and COVID-19 still has a firm grip on the world. Major US cities, including New York City, are once again encouraging people to wear masks indoors and test regularly during the holiday season.

The number of hospitalizations and deaths, two of the signature metrics for monitoring the intensity of the virus’s spread, are nowhere near last winter’s levels. However, according to the Times, daily deaths over a seven-day average are up 65% from two weeks ago.

Not to be confused with people who have not yet contracted the virus, researchers believe that the portion of the population that is naturally immune to the virus (never-covider) will never get sick. It is this group that scientists want to investigate to create a better treatment against the relentless virus.

People “who are naturally immune and whose genetics may hold clues for treatment” are highly desirable to researchers hoping to make strides in fighting the pandemic. Finding those immune to the virus, most likely through genetic mutations, has proven difficult. Differentiating between people who have never contracted COVID-19 and those who were asymptomatic and unaware they had the virus remains a major obstacle.

The odds of having natural immunity to COVID-19 remain remarkably low, but a few thousand have written to the Times to share their experiences avoiding the virus (so far).