The Center for Disease Control estimates that almost 60 percent of Americans have contracted coronavirus since the pandemic began, including three out of four children.

They conclude that almost 200 million people in the US have had the disease. The official tally is only 81 million, but that number is derived by counting the number of individuals who had positive tests. The higher figure is the result of the CDC studying blood samples and interpolating the data. Blood samples that showed SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were assumed to indicate a previous coronavirus infection.

The infection rate rose dramatically from December 2021 to February of this year, while the highly infectious Omicron strain was dominant. “The highest jump in antibody detection was among children and adolescents,” said Dr. Kristie Clarke, a pediatrician who led the study for the CDC.

Of course, the CDC responded the same way they to every bit of news, by plugging vaccinations and boosters again. Clark noted that it’s important to point out that the results:

…cannot be interpreted as protection from future infection. Staying up to date on vaccination remains the safest strategy for preventing complications from COVID-19, even among people with a history of infection.

A broken record is more interesting to listen to than your average CDC spokesperson.

The new data arrives comes just as many politicians have recently been diagnosed with the virus, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who broke the news Tuesday. Per RedState’s Susie Moore:

…this news comes not long after other high-profile D.C. figures have tested positive, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), and Harris’ new Communications Director, Jamal Simmons.

The White House meanwhile addressed their nightmare scenario that President Joe Biden could get it:

“He is vaccinated and boosted. He is very well protected. He’s got very good protocols around him to protect him from getting infected,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said. “But there is no 100% anything. I think the key focus has got to be we’ve got to continue protecting the president.”

Also in the news: unexplained hepatitis cases among children. It is unclear if there’s any connection to COVID or vaccines, as DailyMail explains:

Experts are not sure what is causing the spike in cases, but it has been suggested that lockdowns weakening children’s immunity and even a previous Covid infection may be to blame.

The good news about the new CDC numbers is that we are that much closer to achieving herd immunity, although former TV star Dr. Anthony Fauci has changed his tune and now claims that herd immunity for COVID “almost certainly is an unattainable goal.”  He’s been wrong many times, so let’s hope he’s wrong again.

We can’t leave you without an Elon Musk mention, so here you go:

Fauci will probably ask the CDC to block Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter due to #COVID concerns.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 26, 2022