73 percent of Americans immune to omicron

An estimated 73 percent of Americans are currently immune to the omicron variant of COVID-19, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model, The Associated Press reported.

The organization calculated the estimation for the wire service and noted that the immunity rate could reach about 80 percent in the middle of March.

Experts say that this kind of exposure will allow Americans to better deal with infections will give health care facilities room to breath after intensive care units were overwhelmed in recent months.

“We have been exposed to this virus and we know how to deal with it,” Ali Mokdad, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the AP.

The United States has seen close to 80 million coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic, and that figure is almost certainly undercounted. About 931,000 people have died from the disease.

A large swath of Americans have also received their COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.