According to an article on InForum, "herd immunity" for the state of North Dakota might very well be on the horizon.  Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection from infectious diseases that can occur when a enough of a percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, either through vaccination or previous infections.  A research team at Columbia University believes that only 20% of COVID-19 infections are confirmed by testing.  Suggesting over 60% of North Dakota have had the coronavirus.

Could that be why we never saw that Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years spike, the so called health experts were fearful of?  I think that's a good bet.  Did masks help our lower our numbers after Governor Doug Burgum's statewide mask mandate?  I'll let you guys hash that one out, but South Dakota who never implemented a statewide mask mandate has seen falling numbers just like North Dakota.  Again, suggesting both states are approaching "herd immunity."

In the article, it said that 12.5% of the population in North Dakota has tested positive, meaning the number of people who have been infected is more like 62.5% of the state.  Yep, nearly 2 of every 3 people in North Dakota have had COVID-19.  Per capita, our numbers are the highest of any state in the country, with South Dakota only slightly behind us.

The research team at Columbia University does caution that different strains of the disease could cause issues in the future.  More contagious variants, including the ones that originated in Brazil and the United Kingdom and have even been documented in Minnesota.  Another fly in the ointment is how many people get re-infected.


 

 

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