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Although COVID-19 cases are declining across the country, even in areas that haven’t aggressively vaccinated their residents, experts are warning that the good times may not last, The Associated Press reported Sunday.
State of play: The lower case numbers may be due to a combination of vaccination, natural immunity in communities where many have already been exposed to the virus, and warmer months that allow people to spend less time indoors, according to the AP.
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Only eight states have seen an increase in average cases in the past two weeks, and all of those states have vaccination rates below the national average of about 39% being fully vaccinated.
On the other hand, the 10 states with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases per capita are being fully vaccinated at rates above the national average, per AP.
But, but, but: the good news comes with a fist. Mississippi’s case numbers are declining while it has vaccinated only 28% of its population, and about 60% of its residents have some form of innate immunity due to previous exposure, according to the AP.
“We’re definitely getting some population benefits from our previous cases, but we paid for it,” Thomas Dobbs, a Mississippi health official told The Associated Press. “We paid for it with death.”
The state has seen 7,300 people die from COVID-19.
The big picture: The natural immunity to the virus from exposure to it may be temporary, Lena Wayne, a professor of public health at George Washington University, told the Associated Press.
“Just because we’re lucky in June doesn’t mean we’ll be lucky in late fall and winter,” Wen said. “Here we could have more transmissible, more virulent variants and those without immunity or diminished immunity could be susceptible to infection again.”
Note: Vaccination has proven to be a partisan issue. Sunday’s CBS poll showed that nearly 30% of Republicans are not planning to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
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