How some people are still NOVIDS: 'Never have I ever had COVID'

It has been two and a half years since the COVID-19 pandemic began and the majority of people have tested positive with the virus. Many people have lost their lives due to the deadly infection, and many have jumped back after a very serious disease.

Some people have also been infected even twice or thrice, despite getting fully vaccinated. After all this, there still remains a large number of people who have never contracted the Coronavirus. Researchers call them “Novids”. What’s surprising is that some of them have also lived or worked in high-exposure environments.

So do these people have a way stronger immune system or are Novids just by luck?

Researchers are trying to find out, with the hope to identify protective factors that could prevent other people also from getting sick.

One reason why some people are NOVIDS could be due to taking preventive measures and getting timely vaccinations. Wearing masks in public places, avoiding crowded places, social distancing, working remotely, regularly washing hands, using sanitisers, and avoiding travel are some of the important measures that, when properly implemented, can protect one from Coronavirus to a great extent.

According to research, people with a certain genetic makeup may be more vulnerable to catching a COVID-19 infection or developing serious illness. In the same way, researchers also note that certain gene expressions could also provide a protective effect.

Your immune response to other health conditions can also provide some protection against COVID-19. One such case has been found for people with food allergies. Researchers reported in a May 2022 study that people with food allergies seemed to have a lower COVID-19 risk.

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Dr. Thomas Campbell, an internal medicine doctor at the University of Colorado Hospital, said he thinks the biggest reason behind people not getting sick with COVID is due to luck.

Studies have shown that even with the highly contagious Omicron variants, about 1 in 4 people living with someone who has COVID also got infected. This low percentage shows that people can be exposed to the virus and still not get sick.

He also thinks it can be a matter of timing. Research shows that the infection window can be from the day before symptoms appear to about five days of being sick. “So, if you come into contact with people beyond that window, then the chances of getting infection are less," he explained.

Researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland studied more than 28,000 COVID cases around the world and found that 42% of those infected had no symptoms. So there is a great chance that people who claim to be NOVIDS, might have got infected but were asymptomatic.

Another explanation could be that they experienced mild symptoms, which could easily be confused as symptoms of flu, cold or allergies. By doing this, people might not have gotten themselves tested for COVID, when they could have been infected with it.

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An international study is in progress to find out the genetic element that is able to resist Coronavirus. The researchers are screening over 5,000 people who have remained immune to COVID-19 infections. Repeated tests for infection and antibodies have been conducted on the participants, according to the report.

“We all know these examples of people you would expect to contract infection because they were in the midst of heavily infected people with very severe symptoms for a prolonged time without having access to face masks and other protective measures but who, for some reason, just simply did not get infected,” says András Spaan of the Rockefeller University, New York, who is leading the research.