What America can do to stop the COVID-19 surge

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi and Alexis Christoforous discuss how to fare amid the coronavirus outbreak with Dr. Anne Rimoin, UCLA Epidemiologist.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: All right, the coronavirus pandemic is becoming more critical every day, as we're still seeing a surge in cases in pockets across the country. In the US, there are 3.5 million cases. And globally, we're nearing 13.6 million cases. Yesterday across the globe, we saw 230,000 new cases, the highest number for a one-day period since the outbreak started. Joining us now to discuss all this and how we can fare during this pandemic is Dr. Anne Rimoin. Doctor, good to see you this morning. Maybe you could just break down for viewers, why are we seeing this latest significant acceleration in cases?

ANNE RIMOIN: Well, thanks for having me. You know, we're seeing an increase in cases because the virus has the ability to spread. We are still not-- we don't have herd immunity, so most people are still susceptible to this virus. And by opening up, by giving this virus opportunity to spread-- the 4th of July, the protests, Memorial Day weekend, people not wearing masks, people congregating together-- all of these things have provided ample opportunity to let the virus do what the virus wants to do, which is to spread from person to person.

BRIAN SOZZI: Doctor, this week we got comments from Salesforce founder Marc Benioff. He said if you-- if people just wore masks across the globe, the coronavirus could pretty much be over in three weeks. Do you share that view? Is it that simple?

ANNE RIMOIN: Well, you know, the ability to keep this virus from spreading is we all have the power to do something. And so he is right that wearing a mask is the most important thing that we can do, along with social distancing and hand hygiene. There have been studies that have shown that, if 95% of the population wore a mask, then we would be able to avert at least 20,000 to 25,000 deaths.

You know, early on, we didn't have good data on how well masks worked, and so there was a little bit of a hesitation to make definitive statements. But the data is clear-- masks will make a difference. And so everybody-- everybody-- should be wearing a mask anytime they are out in public.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Doctor, what about shields? I've seen a lot of face shields. And in fact, some schools are thinking about having students come back and wear face shields in-- instead of the mask, so that the students would be able to breathe with a little more ease during the day. Is it less effective to wear a shield? Must you wear a shield with a mask? What are your thoughts on that?

ANNE RIMOIN: So there are not good studies yet that really show the difference between wearing a face shield and a mask, but common sense and just basic understanding of airflow suggests that face masks, while better than nothing, are not the same thing as a mask. A mask is going to really prevent any kind of spread of the virus, but it also is going to do a much better job at protecting you from getting the virus.

A mask is going to fit snugly on your mouth, over your nose, and really going to be trapping virus particles as you speak, from speech droplets, et cetera, et cetera. But also, there is now evidence that suggests that a mask properly worn can provide protection to the wearer, as well. And that's really important because it should be a two-way street. You are wearing a mask to protect me from you, but also you're wearing a mask to protect you from me.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Right, it definitely is a two-way street. I want to ask, though, about testing, because we've seen-- there was a lot of talk early on that we weren't testing enough. It seems like we had ramped that up, but now some states, like California, says-- they're saying, wait a minute, we're just now going to be testing the most vulnerable in our population because there are these bottlenecks with testing. People are having to wait very long for test results. Is that the way to move forward with testing?

ANNE RIMOIN: Testing is a big problem. We do not have the supplies, the reagents, all of the things that we need to make testing happen on the large scale that we need it right now. And that's why we're going back from anybody can get a test to just those people who really need a test right now. This is a huge problem, and it should have been taken care of with the Defense Production Act and with a lot of planning to be able to meet the need for testing.

We need not only-- it's not just about going and getting a test. You need the swabs to be able to collect the sample. You need the transport media to be able to take those samples and bring them to the laboratory. And then in the laboratory, you need all of the chemicals and supplies needed to be able to make that test happen. And so it's not-- these things don't magically appear. They need to be produced. And the more tests that we're going to be doing, the more of this that we need. And we just do not have enough of this.

BRIAN SOZZI: Is it time to close down the US economy again?

ANNE RIMOIN: You know, it's a very delicate balance. Of course, nobody wants to put people in a situation where they're going to lose livelihoods, where we're going to have, you know, all of the issues that go along with closing down the economy. But if people do not do what they have to do to be able to reduce spread of this virus, which means everybody wearing a mask, everybody social distancing, people not gathering in large groups, you know, the reality of it is we may have to go back to that.

Everybody has it in their power right now to do the right thing and to be able to slow the spread of this virus. And if we cannot come together as a country to do those things, we are going to have to go back to the strictest measures of locking down to be able to suppress the spread of this virus.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: We'd love to get your thoughts on schools. We saw LA and San Diego County say that school is going to be remote come the fall. Should other school districts and school counties be doing the same thing?

ANNE RIMOIN: We all want to get our kids back to school. Getting our kids back to school is so important. That being said, we cannot do it in unsafe conditions. And if we have a very high level of transmission, like we do here in Los Angeles, it is not safe to put kids back in school, and to put teachers and staff in a position of potentially being exposed. So what we really need is we need information.

We need to understand-- we need good data. Not small numbers of data, but we need excellent data on how virus spreads in children and who is at risk, and we need a massive investment in the school system. We need billions of dollars to get these schools ready to come back in. You know, we spent billions of dollars to bail out airlines. We need billions of dollars to invest in our schools so that our children can be able to be in school safely. And we also need to be doubling down to reduce the spread of this virus.

Everybody wants schools to open. Everybody wants the economy to come back. But the only way forward for that is to do what we need to do with these blunt public health measures-- wearing a mask, social distancing, hand hygiene. I mean, these things are not sexy, they're not-- they don't seem like big, exciting magic bullets, but they work. And so we all need to do our best, if we want our economy back and our kids back in school, to really crush this epidemic curve.