BYZACK BUDRYK-07/14/20 10:17 AM EDT0
Tate Reeves, Republican Governor of Mississippi threw cold water on the notion of defeating the coronavirus pandemic with “herd immunity,” saying Monday that states’ health systems would be overwhelmed long before reaching that point.
In an ongoing Twitter thread, Reeves posted that in Mississippi alone, the hospital system has “started to become stressed to the point of pain” at 36,680 confirmed cases, and conservatively estimated that herd immunity would require 40 percent of the population to become infected, which he said would require more than 3,000 new cases daily for the next year.
One of Reeves Tweets noted, “We would need to TRIPLE our worst day—every day—for a year. I’m not one of these guys that immediately dismisses any idea that challenges the expert status quo talking points. I’m pretty skeptical by nature. That’s healthy. But herd immunity is not anything like a realistic solution in the short or mid-term. I wish it was.”
More: TheHill.com