Here are the issues with the herd immunity strategy:
- The R0 of this virus is higher than we once thought. The median R0 reported here is 5.7. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0282_article
- This means that some 80% of the population would need to be infected before reaching herd immunity
- This also means the peak of infections would be far more concentrated.
- Even with R=2.5, the number of hospitalisation necessary in an unmitigated peak would utterly overwhelm any health system
- This overwhelming situation would mean a lot of people who otherwise would survive with medical treatment (oxygen etc) would end up dying
- The R0 of this virus is higher than we once thought. The median R0 reported here is 5.7. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0282_article - This means that some 80% of the population would need to be infected before reaching herd immunity - This also means the peak of infections would be far more concentrated. - Even with R=2.5, the number of hospitalisation necessary in an unmitigated peak would utterly overwhelm any health system - This overwhelming situation would mean a lot of people who otherwise would survive with medical treatment (oxygen etc) would end up dying