AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- As Texas works to re-open businesses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the topic of herd immunity was under discussion at Tuesday's meeting of the Travis County Commissioners Court.
Officials say that's not a solution - at least not one without deadly consequences.
"The way forward is not to go back to business as usual, the way forward is to adapt until we get a vaccine. Because if we don't, we go down the path of herd immunity," Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said. "We are not cows, we are thinking people who can adjust our behaviors for our own protection in a collective fashion."
Dr. Mark Escott, interim health authority for Austin/Travis County, told commissioners that roughly 70 percent of the population would need to be infected with COVID-19 in order to reach herd immunity - some 900,000 people in Austin and Travis County.
"If we apply a 2.2 percent case fatality rate, that's 20,000 fatalities. So that's not where we want to be," Escott said. "We understand that if we protect the right people, that number can be substantially less, but there's still going to be people who are younger and healthier that get sick, that are hospitalized and then die. I think what we're trying to find is that sweet spot where some disease happens, but it's happening among people who are less likely to be substantially impacted."
Escott told commissioners the earliest we could see "life back to normal" would be the summer of 2021.