here to talk more about what exactly is going on. Dr. ErIC
fielding epidemiologist.
Senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists doctor.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Does this mean we're actually headed to a new endemic phase of covid 19
and this pandemic. And what do you think that will look like?
Thanks for having me. First of all the spray endemic. It's very very different.
Rabies is endemic but it's extremely rare but it's endemic and you can have
a very high endemic that is constantly
sending people to the hospital overflowing them.
What we don't want is the high endemic.
The concern right now is we're letting off
on the gas and we're releasing mitigations.
Way too early vaccines work. But you have to give in on corn.
So contagious we have to add vaccines plus plus
what plus mass plus ventilation plus testing air disinfection.
And this is the concern that right now where cases are dropping and
hospitalizations are dropping but we're still higher than most of last year.
And furthermore there's the B two second sub bearing Obama clone that
is actually surging and it's actually more contagious than the original macron.
And basically we're trying to count uh and our our luck and
pat ourselves on the back before cases are actually even actually low.
And right now 2-3,000 Americans are dying every day.
3000 which is yesterday, which is more than 9.11.
And we're somehow saying that's an acceptable normal.
No, it's still too early to say it's normal or acceptable level.
Dr really appreciate this insight because I think a lot of people are out there and
confused about what they should do moving forward
if these mandates are being taken away.
Um so how would you uh kind of advise people
to air on the side of caution during this time,
even if we do see those mandates go away.
Um I know in places like New Jersey, we pointed out just yesterday,
I believe two out of three kids at this point in schools not fully vaccinated.
Um I'm glad you point out, we need to look also at the vaccination levels.
Yeah, exactly.
And among 5 to 11 year olds, which, you know,
oftentimes we're most concerned and trying to protect them because they, you know,
they need more protection.
Only 23% of 5-11 year olds are
fully vaccinated.
And among teenagers it's higher,
but only around still 50% were not even nearly uh you know,
in the high range of vaccinations that makes us happy.
And in many states, those numbers are even lower, much lower,
much more vast majority of us states are not are not majority vaccinated for kids.
And so in certain ways mass are the stopgap.
If you're not vaccinated,
you need this mass as the last line back up to stop
the transmission because long covid one in seven UK government's decision,
say one in seven infected kids will get long covid beyond 90 days.
And if you think about classroom of 28 kids who are all infected without mass,
that means four out of every classroom of kids can get long
covid and that's not something we should allow for in our society.
I also want to ask you for a glimpse of the future because you mentioned
the B-2 sub variants.
Is there a possibility that we could see
another variant just as disruptive as um Akram.
We know it wasn't as severe,
we didn't see as many deaths and hospitalizations but it is clear
it's had an impact on things like business and our economy.
Is it possible for us to see another variant like that?
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and the BA two sub variant Obama con is exactly that.
It is more contagious. It's about 250% more contagious.
You know, 1.5 times more contagious.
And it could also be evasive as well.
And remember mildness is only a small factor of total things that will
actually send people to hospital when you have a virus that's more contagious.
And you have viruses just slightly milder that the overwhelming number
of people getting sick will send people to the hospital.
And we have more deaths right now That actually um,
and then spring of 2020 or this summer delta bearing wave,
more people have died in a democratic wave than either of those two waves.
And this will keep coming at us.
The more we allow the virus to spread the let it burn,
let it rip mass infection strategy, folks,
that is going to endanger our future generations and our name our workforce.
This is not something that will actually help us, you know,
counting our eggs before they hatch and um declined.
Mission accomplished whenever cases are still so high is so, so dangerous.
And it's going to breed more variants.
And we're already seeing that so quickly
already with this new second omicron variant,
a subtype that is going to create another potential mini wave.
And again, it's going to keep rolling, disrupting our economy.
The best way to end disruption to our economy
and end the whack a mole in the roller coaster
to get as low and keep it there
counting our eggs before they hatch. Really important words there dr.
Eric fielding epidemiologist and senior fellow
at the Federation of American Scientists.
Thank you so much for joining us and providing that perspective