Will wearing a mask while having unprotected sex protect me from COVID-19 if my partner has it?
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Answered by infectious diseases expert Sara Bares, MD
COVID-19 can be spread through close contact with someone who has the virus, whether or whether they are sexually active. Masks are only one layer of defense. Because respiratory droplets are the major method of transmission, wearing a mask while infected with COVID-19 reduces the risk.
COVID-19 patients, on the other hand, may transmit respiratory droplets to their skin and the surfaces surrounding them. The virus can be spread if you touch these surfaces and then touch your lips, nose, or eyes. In addition, the virus can be transferred by coming into touch with excrement. Sexual practices might sometimes expose you to feces.
Although there is no indication that the COVID-19 virus spreads through sperm or vaginal fluids, it has been found in the sperm of people who have recovered from COVID-19. To reduce the chance of transmission, we recommend avoiding close contact, especially very intimate contact such as unprotected sex, with someone who has active COVID-19.
Why are COVID-19 cases on the rise once more?
Despite the fact that there are more cases overall, some will still result in hospitalizations and deaths, albeit at lower rates than previously.
Cases growing and declining are influenced by a variety of factors, including climate, behavior, and mitigation efforts (or lack thereof). Scientists are attempting to determine what the recent spike of cases means for the virus’s long-term protection and ongoing evolution.
People can re-infect themselves if their immunity wanes or if the virus mutates in such a way that it gets past the body’s defense systems. Both variables could be at play, according to experts studying current disease patterns: While protection against severe sickness appears to be lasting, the ability to stop an infection appears to fade in a few of months. While the BA.1 sublineage was responsible for the first Omicron wave, the BA.2 sublineage was not responsible for the second.
Is there a limit to how many times I can get COVID-19?
Reinfections in the United Kingdom were 10 times greater during the latest omicron surge than during the delta spike in 2021, according to a study from the United Kingdom. Between July 2020 and March 2022, people who were unvaccinated, younger, and lived in “less affluent” areas were at the greatest risk of reinfection. Furthermore, persons who had a moderate first infection with a low viral load were more likely to re-infect.
Despite the fact that most people are protected from Covid-19 reinfection for at least 90 days, there is mounting evidence that people can be reinfected far more quickly.
According to a CDC report from April, ten people tested positive for both the delta and omicron variants within 90 days, including eight children and two adults. The time between infections ranged from 23 to 87 days on average, with a median of 54.5 days.
Covid-19 reinfections are usually minor in healthy people, but certain reinfections might cause more serious symptoms, according to specialists.
“People who are reinfected have milder symptoms on average at a population level,” said Francois Balloux, an infectious disease epidemiologist and director of the UCL Genetics Institute. “This isn’t to say that some folks won’t get a worse infection the second or third time around.”
Furthermore, some health professionals have expressed worries about how reinfections may affect people’s chances of acquiring long-term Covid. “I don’t think we should bet on someone who has a reinfection having a lower chance of having long Covid,” Amy Duckro, an infectious disease specialist at Kaiser Permanente, said.
‘A long-term pattern’
According to some infectious disease experts, Covid-19 reinfections are anticipated to become more common as time passes and new varieties spread, with some persons potentially experiencing their third or fourth reinfection within a year.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, how safe is intimacy with a partner?
You’re at home with your sweetheart, and the hours are ticking away? As the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spreads across the United States and beyond, so are limitations that promote social isolation. You and your spouse may be effectively isolated at home at this point. While this is a great time to reconnect with each other, you may be wondering how much closeness is appropriate.
A refresher course on how the coronavirus spreads
The virus appears to transmit from person to person through prolonged intimate contact, according to evidence.
- Sneezing and coughing spread the virus, which is conveyed in respiratory droplets. If there are others close, droplets may fall into their mouths or nostrils, or be aspirated.
- When an infected person speaks, sings, or breathes, viral particles called aerosols may float or drift in the air. Aerosols may be inhaled by people nearby.
- According to research, the virus can dwell on surfaces and transmit when a person touches them then touches their face.
- The virus is known to be shed in saliva, sperm, and feces, but it is unknown if it is also spread in vaginal secretions. Kissing has the potential to spread the infection (you obviously would be in very close contact with the infected person). At this moment, transmission of the virus by feces, vaginal or anal intercourse, or oral sex appears to be highly rare.
The definition of “continuous close contact” may evolve as more information becomes available, however running or strolling past someone infected with the virus is a lower-risk situation. Being in the same room as an infected individual for an extended period of time and breathing the same air is a greater risk scenario. Experts disagree on what constitutes close touch and how many minutes of close contact are considered high danger. Being within six feet of someone infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 for more than a few minutes increases your chances of contracting the disease.
How safe is intimacy with a partner?
True, many types of intimacy necessitate a closer gap than the six feet recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This does not, however, imply that you should distance yourself from your spouse or partner and cease all forms of intimacy. Touching, hugging, kissing, and intercourse are more likely to be safe if both of you are healthy and feeling well, are exercising social distancing, and have had no known exposure to someone with COVID-19. Similarly, sharing a bed with a healthy partner should not be a problem.
Be mindful, however, that some persons may have the virus but not show symptoms during the early stages of the incubation period, according to the CDC (presymptomatic). Furthermore, some patients never show any signs or symptoms of COVID-19 (asymptomatic). In either situation, the infection could spread through close physical contact and affection.
What about intimacy if one partner has been ill?
If you or your spouse has been sick with COVID-19 and is now recuperating, this CDC page outlines how to prevent the spread of germs, such as not sharing bedding (or, presumably, a bed) and refraining from all personal contact until the infection has passed.
- at least seven days following the onset of symptoms
- Other symptoms have improved as well.
- and a fever-free period of at least 72 hours without the use of any drugs
However, according to one study, the virus can shed for up to 14 days, therefore you should avoid contact for up to 14 days.
During this time, the sick individual should self-quarantine and use public venues as little as possible. If someone is sick, it’s critical to wipe down all common surfaces, wash all bedding, and follow the CDC’s other recommendations.
What’s the good news? In Shenzen, China, public health officials discovered a 14.9 percent transmission rate among household contacts. Self-quarantine for the person who is displaying signs of disease, as well as great hand hygiene for the entire home, help to reduce the risks to household members.
What if your partner works in a job where there’s a high risk of catching the virus?
If your partner works in a high-risk industry like healthcare or interacts with the general public, decisions about intimacy or even self-quarantine in the absence of symptoms are very personal. Some healthcare workers have isolated themselves from their families, while others maintain high hand hygiene and keep a distinct work wardrobe. Given that this is a novel virus, you and your partner should discuss what you are both comfortable with. There are presently no evidence-based guidelines.
What about starting a new relationship?
For those looking to start a new relationship, this should be carefully explored. Due to the pandemic, we should all be practicing social separation, yet dating does not meet with social distancing principles. While this is a difficult period, maintaining social distance is critical to keeping you and your loved ones safe.
Are any forms of intimacy and sex completely safe right now?
The six feet of space necessary by social distance may not be enough to slow you down completely. Masturbation, phone sex with a partner who doesn’t live with you, and sex toys (used only by you) could all play a part in sexual intimacy right now. It’s also quite natural if you’re not in the mood for sex and are perplexed as to how anyone can be intimate at this time. Stress has diverse psychological effects on different people. If a pandemic has stifled your sexual drive, it will resurface once things are back to normal.
Is having sex safe during the COVID-19 pandemic?
If you or your spouse aren’t feeling well or suspect you have COVID-19, don’t kiss or have sex until you’re both feeling better. You should also avoid sex if you or your partner is at a higher risk of serious disease from COVID-19 due to an existing chronic condition.
What is Paxlovid rebound, and how does it work?
In a statement released on May 24, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claimed that some persons treated with Paxlovid had experienced side effects “COVID-19 recovered within two to eight days of their initial recovery.
Following a negative COVID test, some persons suffer a recurrence of symptoms and/or a new positive COVID test.
This has happened to those who have never been vaccinated as well as those who have been vaccinated and boosted.
The patient’s symptoms healed up and then reappeared roughly a week following treatment, according to this report. This was accompanied by an increase in his viral load, or the amount of virus in his body.
Others have shared their rebounding symptoms on social media or reported them to the FDA.
After concluding the medication, 1 to 2% of persons treated with the antiviral had a positive COVID-19 testor a rise in the amount of virus identified, according to Pfizer’s clinical trial.
The FDA noted that this type of rebound occurred in those who received the inactive placebo, so it’s unclear whether it’s related to the medicine.
Furthermore, the agency stated that participants in the experiment who experienced recurrence of symptoms did not have a higher risk of hospitalization or death. There were also no signs that the coronavirus had developed treatment resistance.
It’s possible “The CDC stated that this is part of the normal history of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, regardless of whether someone was treated with Paxlovid, vaccinated, or boosted.
Should you get the COVID-19 vaccine if you get COVID-19 again?
However, because it is possible to re-infect and because COVID-19 can cause serious medical consequences, the CDC recommends that those who have already been infected with COVID-19 get vaccinated against it. Furthermore, getting vaccinated against COVID-19 may provide better protection than getting sick with COVID-19.
Is a person infected with COVID-19 still contagious after they have recovered?
Despite feeling well enough to work, more than 40% of vaccinated healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19 five to ten days after their symptoms began, according to preprint data published on Medrxiv by researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine.
The findings could mean that a high percentage of persons with COVID-19 are still contagious beyond the first five days of their illness, even though they feel completely recovered, according to the researchers. The researchers believe that allowing patients to return to work before 10 days of isolation without a negative fast antigen test increases the danger of them spreading the virus to others.
At odds with current CDC guidelines
Individuals with COVID-19 might cease their isolation after five days if they were fever-free for 24 hours and had either mild-but-improving symptoms or no symptoms at all, according to new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) isolation recommendations from January.
After day five, the CDC advised patients not to take another COVID-19 test, but they should wear a well-fitting, high-quality mask around people until they had reached the 10-day threshold. If the findings of a quick antigen test are positive, the public health service advises that people stay isolated for the whole 10 days.
However, a group of experts warned that those recommendations were risky, claiming that earlier studies had revealed that some persons were still contagious on day ten. Critics argue that without a negative test, people who follow the new CDC rules could return to work while contagious, placing others at risk of getting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Vaccines and omicron are changing the game
The findings, according to the researchers, have ramifications for the CDC’s latest return-to-work guidelines.
“According to Michael Mina, MD, PhD, Chief Science Officer of eMed and one of the paper’s co-authors, current CDC recommendations focus minimal emphasis on the requirement for a negative test to exit isolation. ” The recommendation for five days of isolation is based on data from previous variations. Symptoms and, as a result, isolation are now evident considerably earlier in the course of a viral infection. This means that many people are still at or near the pinnacle of their infectiousness as they emerge from isolation.
Because their immune systems notice and respond to the viral attack more quickly than those who have not been vaccinated, the research team predicted that vaccinated and boosted individuals may develop symptoms faster in the illness course than those who have not been vaccinated. As a result, immunized people may begin to develop symptoms before their virus load reaches its peak. The same group may improve before the virus completely clears their system, according to the researchers.
The advantages of adding rapid antigen testing
Rapid antigen testing before leaving isolation or returning to work, according to the health system experts, can help identify those who are at a lower risk of transmitting COVID-19. However, they highlighted that established public health measures, such as careful masking, must be followed as well.
Rapid antigen tests, which give findings in 15 minutes at home, are usually positive only when a person’s viral load is at its peak. As a result, they can better predict whether someone will be able to leave isolation. They claim that more sensitive PCR tests, which can take several days to perform and can produce positive findings long after an individual’s infectious period has ended, are better suited to diagnosing COVID-19 than clearing someone to return to work.
The study, titled “High Rates of Rapid Antigen Test Positivity After Five Days of COVID-19 Isolation,” has yet to be peer reviewed. Disclosure: Dr. Mina leads eMed, a digital healthcare startup that verifies and reports at-home tests. He’s also on the board of 4Catalyzer, a company that helps start-ups like Detect, which makes a molecular COVID test.
After a COVID-19 infection, how robust is your immunity?
According to the CDC, after a COVID-19 infection, about 90% of persons acquire some protective antibodies. However, the heights to which those levels grow appear to be all over the place. Peak antibody concentrations have been shown in studies to vary by up to 200-fold, or 2,000 percent.
Your age and how unwell you become from your COVID-19 infection will determine where you fall within that extremely wide range. It also depends on whether you have an underlying medical condition or are taking an immune-suppressing medication.
Our immune system weakens as we become older. Around the age of 60, a process known as immunosenescence begins to damage a person’s health. Failure, on the other hand, does not have a clear cutoff. People who exercise and eat well will have better immune function than those who do not, regardless of age. However, the older you get, the less likely you are to have a strong immune response to an infection or immunization. As a result, both first and booster vaccine doses have been prioritized for this population.
Aside from age, it appears that your protection against future infections is based on how sick you were with the first. Several studies have found that in persons with more severe infections, blood levels of immunological defenders known as antibodies rise faster and reach a greater peak.