As infectious as this new variant is turning out to be, it would seem the US should have herd immunity by the fall. Maybe not until winter if the CDC recommends schools close which is becoming more likely by the day.
“As infectious as this new variant is turning out to be, it would seem the US should have herd immunity by the fall.”
I think so too.
Mrsmith posted a link yesterday, about the infectiousness of the Delta variant. It appears that people people with Delta can shed as much as a thousand times more virus, as compared to the original strain. It breeds quicker in the body as well (or as another aspect of the same feature), so infectiousness develops quicker after exposure.
It seems that we already pretty much had herd immunity to the earlier strain. After this extra-infectious variant rips through the remaining unvaccinated, I doubt there will be much running room left in the American population for any other likely variant to do much, if anything.