Biden Admin Fighting To Keep Texas From Reaching Heard Immunity

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In the quest to be rid of this never-ending pandemic, there are only a few possible outcomes in which we all make it out on the other side.

The first and the most widely publicized path to normalcy revolves around getting as many people vaccinated as possible. This, combined with the number of folks who’ve acquired COVID-19 antibodies the hard way, will eventually lead us to what’s called “herd immunity”; a state in which enough of the general population is immune to the virus so as not to spread it wildly into at-risk populations.

Texas believes that they are nearing that magical figure, but health experts aren’t so sure.

A leading public health expert is swatting down a claim from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) that his state will soon reach herd immunity from the coronavirus.

“We absolutely are not declaring victory at this time. We remain very vigilant and guarded and proactive in our response, but there is simple math behind the reason why still we continue to have success,” Abbott said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding later that “very simply, it’s a whole lot more difficult for COVID-19 to be spreading to other people in the state of Texas.”

“I don’t know what herd immunity is, but when you add that to the people who have immunity, it looks like it could be very close to herd immunity,” Abbott added.

But here is where it gets tricky.

But Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy who advised President Biden’s coronavirus team, cast doubt on Abbott’s estimation.

“There is no way on God’s green earth that Texas is anywhere even close to herd immunity,” Osterholm told The New York Times. “Look no further than Michigan and Minnesota, which have much higher rates of vaccination than Texas. And we’re already seeing widespread transmission.”

Regardless of this reticence, Texas plans to open state businesses to full capacity in the coming weeks, including for things like sporting events – something that the worriers at the CDC are certainly going to frown upon.

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