COVID-19 Reinfection Data | Department of Health – COVID-19 Vaccine

As the Omicron variant emerged in New York State, the number of people who have been infected with COVID for a second time has increased dramatically (reinfection). The Department of Health recently released a studywith California and the CDC that looks at the occurrence of reinfection, among other trends. The Department will update reinfection data here on a weekly basis.

What is a reinfection?

A reinfection is when a person becomes infected with COVID, enough time passes, and later becomes infected again. A person is considered to have been reinfected if they test positive again 90 days or more after their first positive test.

What are the numbers?

Through January 30, 2022, there have been 188,401 cases of reinfection, which represents about 3.8% of all COVID infections reported to date in the State.

157,864 of these reinfections have occurred since the week of Dec 13, 2021, the week that variants sequenced in New York State increased to 20% Omicron. This corresponds to 83.8% of reinfections reported in the State to date.

How does this relate to other testing information DOH publishes?

Because data on reinfections and new infections are collected in different ways, they must be presented separately. The COVID-19 daily testing tracker and the positive tests over time dashboard show the number of first-time infections in New York State, based on when these new infections are reported to the State. The reinfection page presents the number of unique instances a person tested positive, thus including those who have tested positive again 90 days or more after their first positive test. To ensure each positive case is at least 90 days apart, reinfection cases are tracked by the date the sample was collected. Due to high volumes and differing reporting practices and timing, many testing sites do not report a case the same day the specimen is collected or the positive result is confirmed.

As a result, the total for any single day will differ between these two reports.

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COVID-19 Reinfection Data | Department of Health - COVID-19 Vaccine