NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Despite the ongoing spread of COVID-19 - and upwards of 100,000 new cases daily in the U.S. - there’s a good reason to remain optimistic.
For one, right now we have not one, but three different effective vaccines that we didn’t have at the start of the pandemic. While it’s taken a little longer for some to get onboard with taking them, a majority of the country (and world) is headed in the right direction.
On this week’s episode of WCBS 880 In Depth, we speak with two experts in epidemiology to find out where exactly the country stands and, more importantly, where we’re headed.
First, we speak to Dr. Wafaa El-Sadar, the Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia University. In regards to whether or not there’s been a real decline in COVID cases, she says, “I think we are seeing a decline over time for a couple of reasons. I think [places] where there has been a recent uptick and increase in uptake of vaccinations have certainly led to a decrease in the numbers of new infections, and most importantly, decrease in hospitalizations and deaths.”
We also spoke to her about the concept of natural immunity.
Later on in the episode, we also speak to Dr. Dennis Nash, a Professor of Epidemiology at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy. For months, he and his group of researchers have referred to their research as “COVID chasing.”
He tells us how much - and even how little - we have learned about the virus so far. He says, “We are in a very good place. We do have a lot of knowledge at our fingertips deployed to reduce the impact of the virus and subsequent surges.”
However, he adds, “I also think we've learned a lot about what not to do around how to communicate about risk, how to communicate about what people need to do in order to keep themselves and others safe. There have been a lot of missteps there. And I think there's [still] a lot of confusion out there because of that.”