Returning to normal ‘doesn’t have to be the goal’ amid COVID-19 recovery: Doctor

Dr. Cedric Dark, Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine & Board Member with Doctors for America, joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Alexis Christoforous to discuss the latest on the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: I want to turn now to the coronavirus pandemic. Some experts are often talking now about that herd immunity. We've heard that tossed around a lot. Well, now some of the experts are saying that it might never be reached into the United States.

So, I want to bring on a good friend to the show, Dr. Cedric Dark, Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and Board Member with Doctors for America. So, Dr., herd immunity never reached? What does that really mean for us in the United States?

CEDRIC DARK: Well, I was listening to Dr. Fauci this morning talk about it. He described it as very elusive, the opportunity to reach herd immunity. But I think what-- his focus is, and I think what everybody's focus really needs to be, is trying to get as many vaccines in arms as we possibly can. Worldwide, we've seen about a billion doses of vaccine be administered and that's a great thing to see.

The United States is doing a great job of getting vaccines out, 189 million vaccine doses have been distributed out to states and places like Walgreens and CVS, in order to get our populations vaccinated. So, that's one of the good things that we're looking for. But whether or not we achieve herd immunity, may not become the goal long-term. This may be something, as we have discussed, that could linger around for a while.

But the goal I think right now should be focusing it on, can we vaccinate our local communities, our cities? And then, after that, worry about the entire country, because realistically, most people are staying in their communities. If your community is safe, then you can avoid having outbursts of COVID. After we worry about the nation, we also need to think about what we're doing globally and what's going on right now in India is a perfect example of that. This will not go away until we take care of this disease across the planet.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: But let's say, doctor, we don't reach herd immunity ultimately. What does that mean for our ability to go back to life as we knew it pre-pandemic? Is that going to even be possible?

CEDRIC DARK: I don't think that we're going to see life as we knew it for people if we don't achieve a level where COVID is tamped down. I think most people are going to wind up wanting to wear masks when they're out and about town, outside of their personal bubbles. But I think we can do things safely, especially if we're doing them outside.

I was watching the Kentucky Derby this weekend, and you could see people there, limited capacity, people wearing masks when they're around other folks, and that's something that we can do. You know, outdoor sporting events are something that is possible if they're spaced out enough. And some of the guidance from the CDC suggests that there are safe things that we can do. We won't return completely to normal, but that doesn't have to be the goal.

I think the goal for the time being is doing what's safe until you can get your own vaccine. And quite frankly, vaccination is going to come with privileges. We should try to do that so that we can enjoy the life that we want to live.

KRISTIN MYERS: So, Dr., what does coming out of the pandemic really actually look like now? Especially if we don't have this herd immunity, and as you're saying, as we're vaccinating, returning to normal doesn't necessarily need to be the goal. Do you think that normal is going to look different as opposed to the normal perhaps pre-pandemic?

CEDRIC DARK: I said for the longest time, normal is not going to be what it used to be back in 2018, 2019. It's going to be a slightly different version. Until we get to the point where enough of our population has been vaccinated that COVID becomes nothing more than like a common cold or some other type of sporadic illness, like a pneumonia, that may pop up, but isn't prevalent everywhere, we're not going to be back to a normal situation.

In the meantime, we still have to do things that are completely within our control, which means avoiding crowded places, wearing a mask if we're out and about, if we're around people that are unvaccinated. But if you are vaccinated, you can return to as normal a life as possible. I was looking into some information about traveling recently, and in the EU, they're talking about maybe allowing Americans to travel back over there for non-essential reasons, for tourist reasons, if they can prove that they have their vaccinations. And I think vaccine passports are one way that we can start to return to normal for those people that elect to become vaccinated.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, Dr. Cedric Dark, Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and Board Member with Doctors for America. Thanks so much for joining us today.