'Social gatherings far more worrisome than TSA lines': Epidemiologist
Suzanne Judd, Epidemiologist At The University Of Alabama At Birmingham School Of Public Health, joined Yahoo Finance to discuss the latest news on covid-19.
Video Transcript
ADAM SHAPIRO: --Dr. Suzanne Judd. She is a PhD Epidemiologist at the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Public Health. We appreciate your being here.
So much misinformation, perhaps, and fear as we talk about variations of the original coronavirus, and viruses mutate. So what should we know that we already know is fact about what we face as this virus mutates and probably will continue to do so?
SUZANNE JUDD: Well, we know for sure that it will mutate, that these viruses mutate rapidly, and this is not the first mutation that we've seen with this particular virus. So that's something we know will happen.
The good news is the way that it's mutating most likely means that the types of vaccines that have been developed will still work with it. The other good news is that we've got stored samples from the vaccine trials, so we can find out pretty rapidly whether or not the virus was already circulating, this new mutated form, and whether or not the vaccine was effective against this new mutated form. So we'll get information much more quickly than we did in wave one of the coronavirus pandemic that started last year.
JULIA LA ROCHE: Dr. Judd, I do want to ask you about the holiday season, holiday travel, people going to different parts of the country, and how concerned are you about that?
SUZANNE JUDD: I am concerned that there will be a lot of travel. There are several things that happen at this time of year. We've got the holidays. We've got the new year. It's also college-football bowl season, which is a big deal in the Southeast. And people get together not only at the game but for watch parties, and they go to bars and restaurants. So there definitely are going to be challenges in terms of getting large groups of people together, and that has the potential to spread the virus.
We've already got very high circulating levels of coronavirus in the Southeast, in Southern California. And these activities that happen at the end of the year, they could lead to even more infection in places where we already have hospitals bursting at the seams.
ADAM SHAPIRO: You know, you do this for a living. You're a PhD in epidemiology. You trace the spread of disease. So when you see a million people passing through TSA checkpoints at airports-- I know how badly all of us want to be with the people we love. What goes through your mind?
SUZANNE JUDD: Well, I watch it very carefully, and I've been watching the airlines and the travel industry. They've been doing a pretty good job keeping people safe. The masking is going on when people are traveling by plane, by train. The videos that come out really do appear that people are following the guidelines, and we've seen very little spread on airplanes. Even when coronavirus, COVID-19 infection is present in a person on an airplane, we're not seeing much viral transmission. So the airlines are doing a great job trying to keep virus down in that particular sector.
I worry much more about the gatherings of 10 to 20 to 30 people where they're eating with their masks off, where they're in a bar singing, celebrating the fact that it's a brand-new year and we made it and we're all in this together. I think people have to really understand it's those interactions you're having with people without your mask on that are leading to most of the transmission that we've identified so far.
So the TSA lines, they don't scare me nearly as much as thinking about the gatherings that are going to happen, and we all know people have COVID fatigue. They're ready to see family. They're ready to see friends. And they think, oh, this one time won't hurt me. I'm just going to get together with 25 of my closest relatives. They say they're not going out. Everything should be fine. And then it may not be.
JULIA LA ROCHE: You know, it's an interesting point too when you bring up the gatherings and how people think their circles are much smaller than the reality actually is. As someone who does look at the data, the spread, where are you concerned about the waves that might pop up? Do you have insight into, like, geography where these could be happening? Would love to kind of explore that too.
SUZANNE JUDD: Yeah, this so-called third wave has really started in the north of the country, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and it's really bled down to the southern part of the United States. Being in Alabama, I am particularly concerned that we're about to experience the highest number of cases that we have experienced yet, and we're already at a peak. I think Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, they're all in the same boat that we are, and then also California.
It also appears that the virus is spreading east. New York has higher cases than it's had previously and moving up into that northeastern area. So this is a very interesting wave because this third wave has really marched geographically across the country from north to south and then central out to the two coasts. So I think those coastal areas and--
ADAM SHAPIRO: Doctor--
SUZANNE JUDD: --the southern areas, that's what we'll probably see. Yep, go ahead.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Nope, just wanted to thank you, Dr. Suzanne Judd, PhD epidemiologist at the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Public Health. We wish everybody there a healthy holiday and new year. Thank you for joining us. We're going to be right back.
