USF Expert Predicts End of Pandemic
Researchers at USF say Florida has reached about 80% immunity, which they say brings us all a big step closer to the elusive ‘herd immunity’ we’ve heard about.
Dr. Edwin Michael, who is an epidemiologist and mathematical modeler (holy crap!), says with dropping case numbers, he believes we can reach the 90% immunization goal for Florida and turn this whole thing around. According to WTSP, he also hypothesizes that if we continue on our current trajectory, we could be past the pandemic entirely by the end of the year.
He adds, however, that variants could mess up the whole thing. He says our best defense against variants is vaccinations and booster shots.
Although they are not 100% guaranteed to protect you from getting sick, they have been proven as effective protective measures. It’s important to remember that it’s not over till it’s over.
First, they say, vaccination rates need to get to 90%, then we need to get the immunity rate up. Finally, the booster will kick everyone’s resiliency over the finish line.
To keep things in perspective, Florida experienced over two million cases of COVID-19 in just the last two months and the current average infection rate is almost 10,000 every week. We are not done yet, but we are seeing progress.
[SOURCE: WTSP.com]