‘Reduction of corona infections is due to herd immunity’

The number of positive tests is also falling further in the Netherlands: more than 13,000 people tested positive for GGD every week, including April 26. According to figures from the RIVM, they were above 24,000 a week ago. That is a decrease of 44 percent.

The week before, there was a drop of 64%, but another factor was that the government no longer recommends a confirmatory GGD test after a positive self-test. This test policy change has been in effect since April 11.

herd immunity

Epidemiologist Quirine ten Bosch (WUR) explains the sharp drop in the number of new infections, as the vast majority of people are infected or vaccinated, or both. He refers to the antibody test by blood bank Sanquin in March, which showed that in two months as many people were infected with the corona virus as in 2020 and 2021. The results of this have not yet been published.

“Herd immunity increased very quickly this spring. That now plays a major role.” The epidemiologist mainly looks at how long it takes before the number of infections is halved. “The shorter this period, the faster the numbers fall. The ‘half-life’ is now about a week, which is fine.”

“Yet there is a new variant”

However, we have to wait for a new variant of the virus that can overcome the immune response better than the current variant. “It will come anyway, it’s just an improvement.”

But according to Ten Bosch, this should not be a cause for concern for most people. “If the virus is still circulating, but the immunity against the disease remains fairly intact, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because people don’t get very ill from the virus and there is less pressure on healthcare. A risk group would certainly prefer it. Unfortunately, the complete disappearance of the virus is not reasonable.”