WHAT WE KNOW | WHAT WE DON’T KNOW |
We know how many people have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and died | We don’t know how many people have had mild COVID-19 infection or have been infected without developing symptoms. |
We know that COVID-19 often causes a cough and a high temperature. | We don’t know whether there are other important symptoms that COVID might cause that can help us recognise the illness earlier and tell it apart from other infections like the common cold or Flu. |
We know that we can start to detect the virus up people’s noses for two or three days before symptoms develop and that people can be infectious before they develop symptoms. | We don’t know whether this is the same in all age groups or if some people have the virus up their nose but never become ill. |
We know that people become much less infectious during the first week of symptoms. | We don’t know how many people might still be infectious for longer than one week. |
We know that we can develop immunity to many infections but that the strength and duration of immunity differs for different infections and different people. | We don’t know if getting mild COVID-19 infection protects people from getting infected again and if so for how long. |
We know that researchers around the world are trying to develop COVID-19 vaccines. | We don’t know which parts of our immune response are most important in preventing COVID-19 infection and illness or whether genetic differences alter our immune response to COVID-19. |
We know that COVID can spread very easily. | We don’t know how much transmission happens in the household, through close contact with other people when we meet them or just through being around other people in public. |
We know healthcare workers are at increased risk of getting COVID-19 but that masks can help to protect them | We don’t know if other occupations are at increased risk of getting COVID-19 or how best to protect them |
We know people of all backgrounds can get COVID-19 | We don’t know why there are more people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Groups in intensive care units than expected. |
We know that in the coming months there will be a lot of advice to people about what they need to do to help stop COVID-19 from spreading | We don’t know how well people will be able to follow this advice, how much it will reduce spread and how it will affect people’s lives and finances. |
We know that COVID-19 has decreased following the lockdown. | We don’t know whether we will be able to stop it coming back and when we might get further waves of infection. |
Questions we want to answer about our immunity to COVID-19:
Are vaccinated people, or people with prior infection, protected against future infection?
How long does immunity from vaccines, or prior infection, last?
Will antibodies protect against new strains of COVID-19?
Are all groups protected equally?
Are different vaccines equally effective?
Do antibodies protect against infection without symptoms that could still spread to others?
What is the overall impact of vaccines on the spread of the virus across the population?
How soon will immunity following infection or vaccination allow us to “get back to normal”?