By Larry Anderson of Anderson Family Medicine 

Let’s talk about herd immunity as that seems to be where you all want to go. I prefer the term group immunity as that sounds more personal. 

Group immunity is selecting what percentage of the group has had the Coronavirus or has been vaccinated in order to decrease the odds of your being the target of the virus. We have no vaccine, so getting the virus is the only option.  

This percentage is based on the characteristics of the virus. For example, Measles and Mumps require 95% percent of the group to be infected to help protect the remaining 5%. Coronavirus (Covid-19) requires only 75% to be infected to protect the remaining 25%. We need about 18,000 people in Dawson County to get the virus to protect the remaining 7,000. 

So far, we have only a little over 217 people with the virus. We have a long way to go to reach our goal, so continue to not wear the mask and go mix with like-minded people. I would like to thank those not wearing the mask for taking one for the team. I appreciate your sacrifice for those of us who do wear masks. 

Did I mention that when you go to another group i.e., Cumming, Gainesville, Dahlonega, etc., that the numbers change? Those are different groups and the only safety from the virus that is truly transferrable is wearing a mask. So thanks for taking one for the team.  

Thanks to those who are wearing masks and thanks for reading.