Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

LearningIsTheBest t1_j9cnu05 wrote

> how they contracted the virus

I've read some articles which suggest a minimal or passing exposure tends to result in a less severe COVID infection and heavy exposure (e.g. a car ride) is correlated with more severe cases.

IIs there a definitive study on that? Just curious if you've read anything with good numbers.

40

yt271828 t1_j9cpys7 wrote

Yes, look up papers on "viral load" for correlations between concentration of exposure and severity of infection.

72

Brittainicus t1_j9dt5q3 wrote

The general idea is if you get exposed to a lower viral load, you have less virus particles in your body which gives your immune system more time to find and destroy the virus before it multiplies to the point it can start doing noticeably damage.

21

LearningIsTheBest t1_j9du6au wrote

That always made sense to me intuitively. I just didn't want to take intuition as fact. I also haven't seen solid numbers yet. My main concern at this point is long COVID and that seems completely random so far.

8

PyrocumulusLightning t1_j9h4sqr wrote

Does this mean if one person contracts COVID from a brief contact but gives it to someone who lives with them and is constantly exposed, the second person is likely to have a more severe case?

3