DESPARDES — A new report warns the pandemic that has already killed more than 242,000 people likely won’t be contained for two years. The modeling study says that about 70% of people need to be immune in order to bring the virus to a halt.
The researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota said people must be prepared for “at least another 18 to 24 months of significant COVID-19 activity, with hot spots popping up periodically” in different geographic areas.
Humans lack natural immunity to the virus, and it is highly contagious, the study says. If the pandemic follows the pattern of the 1918-1919 Spanish flu, it is likely to last up to two years and return as a more serious outbreak this fall and winter.
In a recent interview, Congressman Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, warned that the trillions of dollars in coronavirus aid piled on the structural deficit for this fiscal year combined with the likelihood of even more spending in the coming months will bring the national debt to somewhere between $28 trillion to $30 trillion by the end of September.
Companies are said to be launching vaccine trials at an unprecedented pace, but some worry about the trade-offs between speed and safety, according to the Washington Post.
Global lockdown and social distancing remain the preventive measures as race for the vaccine continues.
Protesters in London took part in group hug in defiance of the lockdown on Saturday outside Met Police headquarters.
Gatherings of any sort are banned under the UK’s rules to slow the spread of coronavirus which were rolled out on March 23.
