I’m close to 69, so your last point really hits home. It’s personally very upsetting that this really has thrown a wrench in our retirement plans. There probably won’t be any serious travel for quite a while, but we are chancing it with flights from California to Idaho and back. Lots of precautions in the airports and planes, of course — hand washing, masks, hand sanitizers, wipes for use on the plane sears, not touching the face.
Yikes!
* 40% of samples showed 0 antibodies at 8 weeks post Recover
* 60% were down 80% from their antibody level at time of Recover declarations
What would account for such serious loss of antibodies? What are the numbers for cold and flu viruses? Do we know?
I don’t think the antibody erosion numbers are thoroughly in the literature for colds and flu. So we have no comparison, but yeah, the Asian antibody erosion numbers published on this are very steep.
Antibodies are not forever. They are replenished by Memory B cells. And those cells are not immortal. They die and must be replaced, hopefully retaining memory of past infections. So the erosion of antibody levels is not entirely a question of why did they disappear. They disappear all the time. The question is why aren’t they replenished? In just the past week or so there emerged some evidence the Memory cells are attacked by the virus, which is a very HIV sort of behavior.
I sympathize re travel if you’re old. It’s a risk. All things are risks. The problem confronting the old is it’s an extra risk. 8% extra, it looks like. Personally, I think the old must wait. We’ll know more in a year and the places one wants to visit will still be there next year.