Emails from the Washington State Health Department in response to questions from BNO News:
We currently have total of 2 confirmed reinfections in WA State. We are counting a case as a confirmed reinfection if sequencing of paired specimens, one from the initial episode and one from the recurrent episode, indicates infection with a different lineage or clade, or >2 nucleotide differences per month.
I checked in with the team and we have had no deaths as a result of reinfection.
At this time, we still have just 1 confirmed case of reinfection.
There are a total of 1,361 cases with a positive antigen or PCR result 90 days or more from their initial PCR positive result. These cases meet the criteria for a public health investigation of a possible reinfection.
"As of 3/10/21 we had:
1 confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection
There are a total of 968 cases with a positive antigen or PCR result 90 days or more from their initial PCR positive result. These cases meet the criteria for a public health investigation of a possible reinfection.
I am checking in on the part of your question relating to deaths."
"Here are your most up to date numbers.
1 confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection
There are a total of 838 cases with a positive antigen or PCR result 90 days or more from their initial PCR positive result. These cases meet the criteria for a public health investigation of a possible reinfection."
"There is still just the 1 confirmed reinfection in WA State.
There are a total of 716 cases with a positive antigen or PCR result 90 days or more from their initial PCR positive result. These cases meet the criteria for a public health investigation of a possible reinfection. Of these, 36 cases have had paired specimens available and submitted for whole genome sequencing with results pending."
January 21, 2021:
"We still have just one confirmed case of reinfection in Washington State. There are a total of 681 cases that meet the criteria for investigation of possible reinfection and whole genome sequencing is pending on paired specimens of 36 of those cases."
"As of Friday evening (12/18), we have 461 cases that meet the criteria for a POSSIBLE case of COVID-19 reinfection eligible for public health investigation. This includes patients who have a repeat positive test 90 days or more from their initial infection. Of these, 17 are currently pending laboratory investigation utilizing sequencing of paired specimens. As of Friday, we still had just one confirmed case of reinfection in Washington state and no deaths reported among the cases undergoing further laboratory investigation."
"As of today, we still have just one confirmed case of COVID-19 reinfection in Washington state. We have 355 known cases who meet the below criteria further investigation. Further laboratory investigation of these cases requires that we have paired specimens available (one from each episode) with sufficient viral load, these specimens can be sequenced and compared to determine if the patient was infected by differing strains of SARS-CoV-2. Note that < 5% of possible COVID-19 reinfections eligible for public health investigation as described above have paired specimens available for sequencing."
Q: How many suspected cases of reinfection have been found in Washington state? Have any deaths been reported?
A: We have about 120 suspected cases of reinfection in Washington State, but more testing is needed to verify if they are, indeed reinfection cases. We are not aware of any deaths.
Q: Does the department have a criteria to find possible reinfections (for instance, is there a minimum interval or an absence of symptoms between the two episodes?)
A: The Department of Health is in the process of creating criteria right now and will follow CDC guidance. There is a 90 day minimum interval between the two episodes.
Q: Will any of those cases be subject to genomic sequencing to confirm or rule out reinfection? If so, when do you expect those results?
A: We need to have paired specimens to be able to compare genotypes.
Q: Are reinfections (suspected or confirmed) counted as new cases?
A: We are planning on counting only confirmed cases as new cases.