Medics tend to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Alexandrovska hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, January 29, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS)

"Reinfection with COVID-19 increases the risk of both acute outcomes and long COVID," said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University School of Medicine.  "This was evident in unvaccinated, vaccinated and boosted people," he said. Reinfected patients had a more than doubled risk of death and a more than tripled risk of hospitalization compared with those who were infected with COVID just once. They also had elevated risks for problems with lungs, heart, blood, kidneys, diabetes, bones and muscles, and neurological disorders, according to a report published in Nature Medicine.