Healthcare professionals in the United States have stated that most of the population of the country is vulnerable and prone to coronavirus. The rate of the spread of the coronavirus has been largely inconsistent. In some states, 20% of the population has been affected by the virus whereas in others the number is less than 1%.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention is currently carrying out a study all over the United States to deduce exactly how much of the population has been infected. Determining the rate of the infection is essential since it is directly linked with the immunity among the people.
Statistics show that only 2% of the population has been infected, however, it is difficult to determine the exact number. This is because there are individuals who show no symptoms of the virus. These are known as ‘asymptomatic’ patients. Moreover, since the symptoms are sometimes very mild in some cases e.g. dry cough and flue, it becomes difficult to differentiate between coronavirus and the common cold. Hence, professionals believe the number of people infected is higher in reality. This also indicates that the majority of the population of the US is still vulnerable to the virus.
In these times, we have another topic of debate and that is the concept of herd immunity. The concept says that when almost fifty to ninety percent of the population is immune due to vaccination or antibodies, the virus will be slowed down and will be less likely to spread among the people.
Businesses have been closed due to the coronavirus and preventative measures have been encouraged by the government. Consequently, people who are against these safety measures are particularly supporting the notion of herd immunity. However, many healthcare professionals have opposed this idea. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and WHO officials have claimed that it could lead to an extremely high number of deaths across the country.
In the US, the strategy of ‘Herd Immunity’ will cause more harm due to the country’s history of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and other healthcare problems. Patients will be more likely to die than develop immunity due to health complications.
There is also a lot of confusion surrounding the antibodies produced in the patients who have recovered from the coronavirus. Research is being conducted to determine whether people are immune due to the antibodies and how long do the antibodies last.
