Some recent research shows that even once they’ve been infected, the vaccinated are less likely to spread the coronavirus than the unvaccinated. “We’re back in this category of, Yeah, it can happen, but it seems to be a very rare event,” Ross Kedl, an immunology professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told me.
“Especially for the older LGBT community, who grew up when being gay was dangerous, or even illegal, to stay safe they had to develop this silence about who they are,” said Carey Candrian, an LGBTQ elder-care expert and associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “That stays with them, despite growing acceptance and new laws. They’re fearful to disclose their identity.”
For a front-line perspective, I'm joined by Dr. Ivor Douglas. He's chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Denver Health and a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Douglas, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thank you for making the time. Take us, if you can, inside your hospital right now. What does it look like? What do you see?"
Ideally, you would not even need to ask questions of your employer about protocols. “It should be stated up front: ‘Should we have a case, this is what we are going to do,’” said Michael Van Dyke, an industrial hygienist who studies workplace exposure assessments at the Colorado School of Public Health.
“Most people that test positive for symptomatic COVID-19 are actually eligible for this treatment because they have one or more risk factors for severe disease, but the vast majority of them do not even know about this treatment,” said Adit Ginde, an epidemiologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and an emergency department physician at UCHealth, a Colorado-based health system.
And kids represent “an unvaccinated reservoir of individuals,” says Dr. Ross Kedl, a professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
“It is amazing. We continue to see the rapid success of vaccines for all ages. These vaccines are safe, effective and critical to keeping children healthy, while also helping end the pandemic,” said Dr. Myron Levin, a professor of pediatrics and medicine, and an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Right now there are “two Colorados,” said Matthew Wynia, director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. “If you’re in the health-care system — if you’re a patient needing services in a hospital or if you’re a medical practitioner, things are really bad,” he said. “But if you’re a regular citizen just walking around on the street, you wouldn’t know it. People are behaving as though things are normal.”
