There was talk of herd immunity protecting us in the early days of COVID, when we did not know much about it. The general idea was the protected majority shielded the unprotected minority, as bison may protect an exhausted calf. We may have even wondered whether getting a mild dose could be a fortunate coincidence. The wheel is turning. Will the majority of us get the infection now?
New Scientist Had Us Thinking Along Those Lines
New Scientist kindled the thought in an article on January 11, 2022. Their author cited World Health Organization (WHO) warning ‘more than 50 per cent of people in Europe will be infected by the omicron variant within the next 6 to 8 weeks’. That’s a daunting statistic. Thank our stars for vaccines!
Twenty-six European nations report over 1% of their populations are catching the virus every week, according to Hans Kluge. He is WHO regional director for Europe and in a good position to know. We are entering stormy waters as United States reports 1.35 million new cases on Monday January 10, 2022.
What Will Happen as the Majority of Us Get the Infection?
Infections will presumably continue to spiral until the sheer weight on people with antibodies reverses this. This happened rapidly with South Africa’s young adult population who would have experienced mainly mild symptoms.
However, we will have to wait and see how statistically older North Americans and Europeans respond as the surge continues. There should be fewer serious cases per 100,000 infections.
However, there will be many more infections, so we don’t know the eventual impact on hospitals. There seems little doubt the majority of us will get the omicron infection. That is all we know about the situation at present, except we should vaccinate and wear face masks.
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