I would not be surprised if as many as 100 million Americans have caught the virus with the vast majority not even knowing it as the virus effects are likely extremely mild or non existent for most. I would also not be bowled over to hear that we may be a lot closer to herd immunity now than most believe.
The media and scientist have been saying
since the start of the Pandemic that symptoms will be mild
or not noticeable by the infected persons. They've also been saying (stats proves such) that most that require hospitalization are the elderly or those with underlying medication conditions.
Unfortunately, many didn't even realize they had an underlying medical condition (e.g. high blood pressure, heart problem).
Regardless, since day one of the Pandemic...its been pumped in the news that many will have mild symptoms or symptoms not noticeable (e.g. normal cough for a few days, one day fever, shortness of breath for a few days).
It could be one of the reasons why many in the USA do not take the face mask wearing, washing hands, social distancing and no large group gatherings very seriously whereas other countries do take it very serious...some of those countries avoided a lockdown.
Also, it is in fact one of the reasons why Europe shut their borders to the USA. Yet, some countries are starting to open their borders to other countries the past 2 weeks.
As soon as a vaccine is developed and released to the public...
herd immunity will come very fast in the U.S. and other countries. Unfortunately, there's another issue about the vaccine...the anti-vaccine community.
There's a very large percentage of the anti-vaccine community. That in itself will be very problematic to achieve
herd immunity. Another problem, recently new, scientists are now getting more data that immunity
doesn't last.
It'll be another 1 - 2 months before data starts to come in about "reinfection" as in people thought to be immune are now becoming re-infected.
Key - Depending upon the country...you need about 60 - 80% of the population to be infected and recovered. Yet, the recovery aspect is still being debated among the global scientist because Covid-19 is still new...they're still learning new things about it on a weekly basis.
Simply, what's a fact today...there will be new facts next month...constant changing environment. For example, the province I live in was the best Covid-19 response Province the beginning of the Pandemic. Now its the worst Province but the past few days I think people are taking it more seriously now that more young people are being hospitalized...literally everybody is wearing a face mask now in comparison to very few wearing a face mask a few weeks ago.
The latter above may be due to the fact that many Provincial prime ministers are now making face masks
mandatory after a rise in the number of hospitalization in young adults.
wrbtrader
