why you shouldn't deliberately expose yourself to covid 'to get it over with'

most canadians think it’s inevitable that they’ll eventually contract the highly infectious omicron variant of the virus that causes covid, according to an angus reid poll released on jan. 13.

in fact, some of us have even come around to the idea of purposely exposing ourselves to the virus just to “get it over with.” there are reports of people throwing “covid parties,” analogous to chicken pox parties where parents deliberately expose their kids to the contagious virus to save them from infection in later life.

it’s ‘not 21st century thinking’

the idea of deliberately infecting yourself “is not 21st century thinking, it’s not 20th century thinking, it’s 19th century thinking,” dr. james t. mcdeavitt, dean of clinical affairs at baylor college of medicine in houston, told the l.a. times .

we still don’t know much about natural immunity

many reports claim that once you’ve contracted covid, your body produces natural immunity that will keep you safe against future infections. for most people, that’s true — but it’s not the case for everyone. a september study from the cdc found that 36 per cent of people who had previously contracted covid didn’t generate any antibodies.

“there is no evidence that natural immunity is better than vaccine generated immunity, and some evidence that vaccine generated immunity is more robust and longer lasting,” dr. ilan schwartz, an infectious diseases physician and assistant professor at the university of alberta, told forbes . “getting the vaccine is much much safer than getting the virus.”

re-infection happens

because natural immunity wanes over time, as does immunity from vaccines, we are seeing people getting covid-19 twice . the first confirmed case was a man in hong kong, who was infected in march 2020 and then again that august. and while re-infection can happen to anyone, those who are unvaccinated are more than twice as likely to be reinfected than those who are vaccinated . in fact, a u.k. study last december found that omicron’s re-infection risk was more than five times higher than delta’s .

dr. amesh adlja, a senior scholar at john hopkins center for health security, told nbc news that it’s too soon to say with certainty, but it’s likely that people are getting omicron twice.

calling it ‘mild’ eclipses the risk

the word ‘mild’ doesn’t mean what you think it means

and then there’s the critical reason you shouldn’t purposely get infected: long covid can be devastating.

about 60 per cent of canadians reported at least one long-term symptom of “long covid,” according to health canada . symptoms include pain, ptsd, memory problems, fatigue, trouble sleeping, shortness of breath, problems with concentration, anxiety or depression — and the fallout can be devastating.

repeating myself again because apparently it’s necessary: covid is no joke. i am (was) a healthy 31-year-old, contracted covid in may and still today i have debilitating pain and fatigue. it’s not worth the risk, even if you think you’ll be fine if you get it. #longcovid

— kat guerin (@katguerin) august 8, 2021

some people will be changed forever by long covid , rehabilitation specialist dr. shawn marshall told the ottawa citizen in september: “most of us had been expecting this. there is no way something like this goes through the population without a number of people being left with severe disability.”

unvaccinated people face hospitalization, death

while in many ways the virus is unpredictable — young, healthy people die from covid — there is one predictable outcome: hospitalization and death are much more likely in unvaccinated people who get sick. in fact, the vast majority of those hospitalized or killed by covid in canada, and around the world, are unvaccinated. as of jan. 1, unvaccinated canadians represent 77 per cent of covid hospitalizations and 75 per cent of deaths, according to health canada .

hana horka, a 57-year-old czech folk singer, was unvaccinated and chose not to isolate when her husband and son developed covid. she opted to get infected, her son jan rek told the bbc , because the czech republic requires either proof of vaccination or proof of recovery from a recent covid infection to access certain services.