President Donald Trump keeps claiming without evidence that he is now immune to COVID-19 after having been diagnosed with it less than two weeks ago, but scientists confirmed on Monday that there has been at least one case of reinfection in the U.S.
According to a new study published the Lancet on Monday, a 25-year-old man in Nevada tested positive for COVID-19 on April 18, recovered, then tested positive again on June 5.
“Thus, previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 might not guarantee total immunity in all cases,” the scientists wrote. “All individuals, whether previously diagnosed with COVID-19 or not, should take identical precautions to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2.”
Additionally, the researchers noted that the second case was “symptomatically more severe” than the first.
On the same day the study was published, Trump once again parroted his claim that he was no longer susceptible to the virus during a campaign rally in Florida.
“I went through it, now they say I’m immune,” the President said. “I feel so powerful, I’ll watch into that audience, I’ll walk in there, I’ll kiss everyone in that audience. I’ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women.”
His comment followed a tweet on Sunday in which he claimed that receiving a negative test result “means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it,” a tweet Twitter flagged as a violation of its rules on “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
