Can you catch new strain if you already had old one?

[CardoMondo]

Can’t seem to find an answer to this. If you’ve had the first strain of Covid already, can you still catch the new strain?

Yes, it’s mutated but you can catch the original virus again too can’t you . (I think!)

They don’t know yet. Go in the new strain thread for the science.

It’s not a new strain. It’s a variant - enough changes to alter its behaviour but still recognised by the immune system. Vaccine almost certainly will still work. The genetic changes are much slower/less than in the flu virus which requires annual vaccines because new strains develop.

Viruses mutate all the time without significant changes. It’s not unexpected. Many viruses mutate to become less deadly, like the Spanish flu.

Yup

A friend of mine had covid in March (breathing diffculties and tiredness went on until August)

And has caught a different strain (tested positive) - with headache, cold symptoms, but no tiredness. So not as bad.

As Shastabeast has said above, viruses do sometimes mutate to become less deadly because killing your host isn't a great survival strategy.

Yes. There's no, or limited, evidence that having Covid once provides blanket immunity