As vaccines continue to roll out across the nation, there's some good news on the horizon: the U.S. is on track to reach herd immunity by mid-summer, according to Oliver Wyman's COVID-19 Pandemic Navigator.
The herd immunity threshold will be crossed when 71 percent of the U.S. population has either been exposed to COVID or vaccinated, according to the firm. However, different states will reach that threshold at different times, and Oliver Wyman stressed that Americans should stay vigilant as new variants of the virus emerge.
States like New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island will be among the first states to reach that key tipping point of herd immunity, which could come as soon as late May or early June. This is due to these states having the highest infection levels to date. Maine and Hawaii, both of which had low levels of infection, are predicted to be among the last states to reach herd immunity, according to Oliver Wyman's modeling.