Health Care Worker Seromonitoring Reveals Complex Relationships Between Common Coronavirus Antibodies And Covid-19 Symptom Duration

Some studies suggest that recent common coronavirus (CCV) infections are associated with reduced COVID-19 severity upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. We completed serological assays using samples collected from health care workers to identify antibody types associated with SARS-CoV-2 protection and COVID-19 symptom duration. Rare SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive antibodies elicited by past CCV infections were not associated with protection; however, the duration of symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infections was significantly reduced in individuals with higher common betacoronavirus (beta CoV) antibody titers. Since antibody titers decline over time after CCV infections, individuals in our cohort with higher beta CoV antibody titers were more likely recently infected with common beta CoVs compared with individuals with lower antibody titers. Therefore, our data suggest that recent beta CoV infections potentially limit the duration of symptoms following SARSCoV-2 infections through mechanisms that do not involve cross-reactive antibodies. Our data are consistent with the emerging hypothesis that cellular immune responses elicited by recent common beta CoV infections transiently reduce symptom duration following SARS-CoV-2 infections.