BUCKCHERRY frontman Josh Todd says that he is “all for” using herd immunity through widespread infection as a means of controlling the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that “we’ve gotta get on with” life.
Herd immunity happens when enough of the population is immune to a disease, making it unlikely to spread and protecting the rest of the community.
Todd discussed his views on how to best deal with the COVID-19 crisis during a new interview with Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3.
Asked what he thinks it will take for large gatherings to once again be safe for attendees and their families, Todd replied (hear audio below): “It’s hard to even comment about this, because so many people are so riled up. And it’s really tough. And I don’t wanna be judged. We live in a super-judgmental society now, with social media.
“I’m all for herd immunity — I always was, way back,” he continued. “I think the Swedish community has really — they’ve handled it well. Their numbers are not any more than our numbers, and they’ve just gone on with life.
“If this was a different type of disease — if it was Ebola or something like that — then it’s a whole different ballgame, because the death rate is a lot more severe.
“I’m not saying this… Because I know a lot of people have lost loved ones. And I am totally compassionate about all that. I just think herd immunity, but just following safety protocols — just everybody wearing masks and people getting temperature tested before they go into work, and if they have a high temperature, they get sent home.
“We’ve gotta get on with it or we’re gonna come back to some serious problems, and it’s gonna be way worse than the fallout from all this that has nothing to do with coronavirus,” Josh added. “That’s a whole argument, of course, and debate that people will wanna argue with, but I’m all for herd immunity.”
This past week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, cautioned against using herd immunity, arguing that “you’re going to wind up with a lot of dead people.”
Fauci, who is a member of the White House’s COVID-19 task force, told PBS‘s “Firing Line” that the idea of “building up herd immunity” by widespread infection “has a lot of danger to it” and “isn’t a surefire way” of prolonged protection, as the rate of reinfection isn’t yet known.
When asked by Yahoo! News whether herd immunity is a viable strategy for the U.S. to adopt, Fauci said: “I’ll tell you exactly how I feel about that. If you let infections rip as it were and say, ‘Let everybody get infected that’s going to be able to get infected and then we’ll have herd immunity,’ quite frankly, that is nonsense, and anybody who knows anything about epidemiology will tell you that that is nonsense and very dangerous.”
The Swedish government never ordered a “shutdown” during the pandemic and kept day care centers and primary schools open.
As of October 13, Sweden’s per capita coronavirus death rate was 590 per million — on par with 591 per million in the United States and 600 in Italy, but many times the 50 per million in Norway, 108 in Denmark, and 113 in Germany.
Earlier today, it was reported that Swedish authorities want to bring in local lockdowns to stem the rapid spread of coronavirus in the country. The new rules will give regional health authorities the power to strongly recommend people to avoid busy public places like shopping centers, museums, gyms, concerts, and sports matches.
BUCKCHERRY has played “a handful of shows” this year “very quietly” amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Todd, and they were all done by “following the safety protocols.”
