Coronavirus infects Nebraska family for second time

Four members of a Nebraska family are infected with the novel coronavirus — again. 

For the second time in recent months, Chuck Conboy Sr., 67, of Papillion, claims his family has suffered a COVID-19 infection. Conboy, his wife and two sons all contracted the virus in November but fully recovered. Nine weeks later, they all began to suffer symptoms of the disease again, later testing positive for a second time, he said. 

“I woke up… and had a fever. It jumped up to like 102 degrees, which for me, that’s high. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, not again,’” he told local news station KETV of the second infection. 

“It just hit me like a truck and this time, it knocked me down. In fact, this is the first day — day nine — that I’m back to halfway normal. If you’d asked me yesterday, I didn’t even know where I was,” he added. 

Conboy said symptoms of the virus appeared more quickly the second time compared to the first, noting that his sense of taste and smell “disappeared immediately.” 

“[My] temperature shot up higher just immediately and this was not just me. This was the entire family,” Conboy said. 

Scientists are still studying immunity to the virus following infection, with a study frrom November, said to be the most comprehensive to date, finding that immunity could last for more than six months. Meanwhile, a study out of the United Kingdom published last month came to a similar conclusion, finding that immunity could last five months or longer. 

Still, studies regarding immunity are ongoing, with Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease expert with Nebraska Medicine, saying that although rare, reinfections are possible, with those suffering only a mild case the first time possibly being more at risk for a second infection. 

“That may be one of the explanations, that people with very mild disease don’t mount as vigorous an immunological response and don’t have as long-lasting a response,” Rupp told KETV.