Contrary to the popular rumor, you do not die due to COVID-19. Many healthy people who contract the virus, survive it and get recovered. Currently, there is no coronavirus vaccine, and we may not see one for 18 months or longer. So our immune systems must, for now, adapt without support to this possibly lethal virus. It takes a lot of time, and medications for your body to fight off COVID-19.
A person who is infected with SARS-CoV-2 will, on average, feel ill for about seven days after symptoms start. After that, when the person is hospitalized and treatment begins, the body starts producing certain proteins called antibodies. These antibodies fight the unknown infection and stop the virus from replicating inside the body, hence helps the body fight off COVID-19. Slowly the symptoms begin to fade and the health of that person improves. Subsequently, if all goes right, your immune system will kill all the viruses in your body completely. In particular, the body will hold cells called lymphocytes in the system after you’ve healed from a viral infection. These cells “know” the viruses they’ve seen before, and can easily respond to fight them off again.nIf you are already exposed to a virus that you had, the antibodies will possibly stop the virus before it begins to cause symptoms. You have to become immune. It is the idea that underlies all vaccines.
In some conditions, even after symptoms have disappeared, small amounts of the virus may still be present in a patient’s system, and they should remain isolated for an additional three days to ensure that they have truly recovered and have no infectious disease. However immunity to the virus can wane over time, and you can get the virus again. Coronavirus has been found out recently so scientists don’t have knowledge about how it can be cured and people who recover from COVID-19 are immune to future infections or not.
Before an individual is officially reported recovered, all the medical and testing requirements have to be met. Clinically, a person has to be free from fever for three consecutive days without fever-reducing medications. Their other symptoms must be improved, including reduced coughing and shortness of breath. And it must be at least seven full days from the onset of symptoms. In addition to those conditions, the CDC guidelines state that a person has to test negative for the coronavirus twice, with the tests being taken apart for at least 24 hours. Only then is an individual officially considered healed by the CDC, if both the symptom and test criteria are met.
