Why is Boris Johnson quarantined again after having Covid-19?
Despite having had Covid-19 last spring, health authorities have asked the British prime minister to isolate himself because he has been in contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.
The system for tracking Covid-19 patients and contact cases is working well, even very well, among the British. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has personally experienced this as he has just been placed in solitary confinement under the "track and trace" protocol after spending a moment with Lee Anderson, the deputy from Ashfield (Nottinghamshire, UK).
The latter tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, after feeling symptoms. Shortly before, this Thursday, November 12, Lee Anderson and Boris Johnson had spoken in the same room, a photo of the meeting even shows them two meters from each other, without a mask on their faces. All the other people present in the framework of this 35-minute meeting were placed in solitary confinement for a period of 14 days.
The British prime minister, who was severely affected by Covid-19 last April and was placed in intensive care for three days, said he was fine this time and had no symptoms.
In a video posted on Twitter, Boris Johnson said: "Hello everyone, the good news is that the NHS (British health system) testing and tracking system is also working more effectively, but the bad news is that I They sent a notification, and that I have to isolate myself because someone with whom I was in contact a few days ago developed the Covid. "
Why is the fact of having already had the coronavirus not taken into account
And the Prime Minister added: "It does not matter that we all do social distancing, it does not matter that I am in good shape, that I feel good, like so many people in my situation. And in fact, it does not matter that I had the disease and that I am overwhelmed with antibodies. We need to stop the spread of the disease and one of the ways we can do that now is to self-isolate for 14 days when the track and trace system contacts us. "
Because, the NHS still does not take into account the fact of having already contracted the coronavirus, because there is still no data to show that it is not transmitted if it has already been infected. A priori, having antibodies against the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus does not necessarily mean that it does not spread, because if the body has the weapons to defend itself, the viral load is not necessarily zero.
In addition, there have been cases of reinfections around the world, so it is not yet clear how long the body maintains its defenses against the coronavirus. When in doubt, and in the absence of precise data on this issue, isolation emerges as the best solution.