As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to decline, a new report indicates that 73% of people in the United States have immune systems that can recognize the virus and are primed to fight off the omicron variant.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington estimated that by mid-March, as many as 80% of people could be immune to the variant.
“In my opinion, come March the United States will be like European countries,” UW epidemiologist Ali Mokdad said. “No more mask mandates. We will not ask people to go and get the vaccine. … We don’t do this for the flu and we should move on.”
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The data are based on the number of cases and vaccination rates in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported just over 78 million cases to date with nearly 81% of eligible people having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination.
“We need to be realistic,” Mokdad said. “We need to know what we are facing. Not to live in fear anymore. We’ve reached a level in my opinion and we’re in an endemic phase.”
In January, the CDC reported that protection from previous infection alone proved to be durable and highly effective against reinfection caused by the delta variant, the dominant strain circulating throughout the U.S. until December 2021.
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Still, health experts caution that immunity levels could wane over time.
