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By Elspeth Mizner
ERIE, Pa. (Erie News Now) – In a recent interview on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, President Biden offered some hope about the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he believes the pandemic is over, but there’s still a problem with Covid-19.
We wanted to know, what the Covid situation looked like in our region.
Epidemiologist and Erie News Now Contributor Dr. Becky Dawson said, “Covid has not gone away, it’s still killing more than 400 people every day, we are seeing more than 60,000 new cases per day here in the United States. So, the disease is not over but I think when we hear pandemic, we think of the fear, we think of the unknown, we think of death and a lot of scary things, I think those pieces are behind us.”
Dr. Dawson said although the unknowns are behind us, it’s now about living with the virus forever. “The new normal of Covid being a part of our lives is something that is going to exist for the rest of all our lives.”
Doctors who treat patients agree. The pandemic has not reached the finished line. Dr. Nancy Weissbach, an Infectious Disease specialist at AHN Saint Vincent said” I wouldn’t say the pandemic is over, but the pandemic is being managed fairly well right now, we still have lots of cases.”
Dr. Weissbach said she’s still treating patients for Covid-19, but cases aren’t as severe as they were two years ago. “Other patients are coming in for Covid, but it seems to be fairly mild for most patients, however, we are still seeing significantly ill, severely ill Covid patients, it still does happen but less than previously”, said Dr. Weissbach.
Dr. Weissbach said when it comes to getting booster shots, AHN Saint Vincent have seen interest in people wanting them, but they’ve mostly been from people who’ve had interest in the boosters in the past.
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