- During the pandemic, every major holiday in the United States was followed by a bump or surge in COVID-19 cases.
- But now more than half the country has had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
- This means that another surge is unlikely to happen.
- Even if cases aren’t likely to overwhelm hospitals, experts point out that unvaccinated people are still at risk of COVID-19, especially since new transmissible variants are spreading.
Throughout 2020, major holidays in the United States were quickly followed by surges in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and eventually deaths.
In the days following Memorial Day in 2020, for example, at least 14 states hit a new record in daily new COVID-19 cases.
This year, things look different.
Approximately 52 percent of the total U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. On top of that, millions of Americans — more than 33 million— have contracted the coronavirus and likely have some degree of natural immunity.
The current level of immunity in the population — from both vaccination and previous infection — seems to have been enough to stave off a surge following Memorial Day gatherings this year.
This does not mean the pandemic is over or that COVID-19 is not a risk, especially to people who are not vaccinated.
We will continue to see new COVID-19 cases.
But by vaccinating the most vulnerable people first, we essentially took away the likelihood that COVID-19 will overwhelm our hospitals like it did in 2020.
Source: healthline