Dallas County Achieves Collective Immunity Against COVID-19

DALLAS COUNTY, Texas – Dallas County has taken a milestone in the fight against COVID-19, securing the 80% collective immunity threshold on July 4.

That’s according to health experts at the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation.

What includes this step, according to the PCCI, is 46.6% of the total population currently vaccinated and 48.7% of the population achieving natural immunity after recovering from COVID-19.

While the milestone is an impressive achievement, experts at PCCI warn that the fight is far from over. They note, for example, that although the community as a whole has reached the collective immunity threshold of 80 percent, only 49 postcodes are above that threshold and 45 postcodes remain below.

In addition, according to the PCCI, concerns remain due to the proliferation of the COVID-19 delta variant. It is believed that the variant currently comprises 25% of cases in Dallas County and doubles every two weeks. The PCCI claims that the higher viral loads of the variant and its more infectious nature could raise the herd immunity target to 88% in order to successfully suppress peaks of infection when it becomes the dominant strain.

Additionally, according to the PCCI, Dallas County continues to fall behind on immunizations. Only 38 percent of the county is fully vaccinated and 47 percent of the county has received a dose of the vaccine.

The PCCI urges people to overcome their reluctance to vaccinate and says infection rates among those vaccinated remain very low.