Well if you get bitten in this game you are 100% going to die there is no doubt about that (unless of course you changed the settings or added mods that make it possible to survive after getting bit) but the bite will not kill you instantly it will slowly kill you over a few days, when your character dies you can just come back into the same world with a new character, all your skills and progress will be rest but the physical world is still the same now since that character is dying due to a zombie bite he has now become a zombie himself and that's why when you get bitten you should make it as easy as possible for your new character to be able to get your loots back, well there are 2 methods

Method 1 : So when you get bitten be sure to die inside a building or in a fenced in area where the zombie version of you can't freely wander around so you can kill it easily for the loots.

Method 2 : What i usually do after i get bit is store all of my stuff in my base or any safe buildings so i can get them back easily with the new character.