PEORIA, Ill. — A local expert on infectious diseases says COVID-19 has certainly reached an important and encouraging phase, at least when considering the bigger picture.
Most COVID-19 strains are now endemic in the U.S., says Dr. Doug Kasper with the University of Illinois School of Medicine in Peoria.
“While the virus is likely to remain present in some capacity, we also have built up almost a complete immune response across the population, which is likely why numbers remain much lower than what we’ve seen during prior surges,” he said during an interview on WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show”
According to the Washington Post, as of mid-November, the number of confirmed daily COVID deaths per million people across the globe has plummeted to 0.18, from a peak that was ten times that high in January, 2021.
It’s become a consensus opinion throughout the public health and medical communities.
Still on Tuesday, top U.S. infectious disease specialist and White House COVID-19 advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci continued to urge Americans to get up to date on their latest COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
Kasper says a recent Harvard University Study found that more than 96 percent of Americans have likely been infected with and survived COVID-19.
He says that same study found that roughly 97 percent of the population has received some level of protection from vaccines.
He added, however, issues surrounding this year’s RSV and flu surge continue, but that to help, people should re-focus on isolation at home and strict social distance when any respiratory illness or symptoms arise.
