From the Daily Mail:

The administrator of a medical center in the heart of the Amish community in New Holland Borough estimates as many as 90 per cent of Plain families have since had at least one family member infected, and that this religious enclave achieved what no other community in the country has: herd immunity. ‘So, you would think if COVID was as contagious as they say, it would go through like a tsunami; and it did,’ said Allen Hoover, an Old Order Mennonite and administrator of the Parochial Medical Center, a clinic that primarily serves the Plain community. Public health officials and epidemiologists did not dispute the widespread outbreak Hoover described. But they voiced concern that a misplaced perception of herd immunity in a population that makes up 8 per cent of Lancaster County may compromise the effort to turn the tide on the pandemic. As Hoover observed, faith in herd immunity has prompted members of the Plain community to relax on key mitigation efforts such as masking and social distancing, and they may see little reason to be vaccinated.

Additionally, it is unknown whether achieving herd immunity last year would be beneficial now.

Six infectious disease experts with whom LancasterOnline spoke expressed unease with a reliance on the notion the Plain community had achieved herd immunity. And they pointed out that if not the case, past infections and existing antibodies may provide limited protection. ‘Herd immunity is only true at a given point in time,’ said Eric Lofgren, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Washington State University. ‘It’s not a switch that once it gets thrown, you’re good. It’ll wear off.’ This collision of science and personal experience could leave Lancaster County vulnerable just as county health officials seek to make progress vaccinating residents against COVID-19. ‘You can have a long period where you think everything is OK, but you have this whole population that’s susceptible,’ said David Lo, professor of biomedical sciences and senior associate dean of research at the University of California, Riverside.

Lo added: ‘All it takes is one person who’s contagious to give you this sudden outbreak.’

Hoover agreed with these epidemiologists. He acknowledged that face masks and social distancing have been critical for mitigating the spread of COVID-19; he wears a face covering when interacting with non-Amish. But he also knows many in the Plain community don’t take the same precautions. ‘As a general rule, we want to respect those around us,’ said Hoover, who has been the medical center’s administrator since 2004. But because of perceived immunity, Hoover said, the Plain community believes public health directives don’t ‘apply to us.’ It’s a perspective Hoover understands, but doesn’t share.

And from the NY Post:

The Amish and Mennonite groups initially complied with stay-at-home orders at the beginning of the pandemic — shuttering schoolhouses and canceling church services. But by late April, they had resumed worship services, where they shared communion cups and holy kisses, a church greeting among believers. Soon after, the virus tore throughout the religious enclave. “It was bad here in the spring; one patient right after another,” said Pam Cooper, a physician’s assistant at the Parochial Medical Center. In late April and early May, the county’s positivity rate for COVID-19 tests exceeded 20 percent, according to nonprofit Covid Act Now. But Hoover said that it’s impossible to know the full extent of the virus outbreak since he estimates that fewer than 10 percent of patients displaying symptoms consented to being tested. The medical center saw on average nearly a dozen infections a day, or around 15 percent of the patients it serves daily, Hoover said.

While infections ebbed through the summer, before picking up again in the fall, Hoover said new cases are now far and few in between. The center hasn’t had a patient present with virus symptoms in roughly six weeks, Hoover said. But some experts are more skeptical that a large outbreak has led to widespread immunity in the community. Eric Lofgren, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Washington State University, said herd immunity is possible but rare. “It would be the first general population in the United States that’s done it,” Lofgren said. Though experts have suggested that as many as 90 percent of people would need to be infected to achieve herd immunity, others said the exact threshold is still unclear. “The key is that there is not necessarily a magic number,” said David Dowdy, a professor in the epidemiology department at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Previous infections also might not be enough to protect against new variants of the virus, some experts have warned.

They’re enraged that a group of people refused to live in fear and carried on their normal lives. But the Amish proved that the tyrannical Medical Fascist State is powerless when you don’t allow them to control your life.

An inspirational story everyone around the world should hear.