Biden rejects Trump's move to lift COVID-19 travel restrictions as cases continue to climb

ICU physician at Cambridge Health Alliance Dr. Lakshman Swamy joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down the latest COVId-19 news as the number of cases continues to climb.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: Another grim milestone in the pandemic, the US death toll from COVID now tops 400,000. We want to bring in Anjalee Khemlani for the latest on this. Anj.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Thanks, Seana. Yeah, unfortunately, as you said, grim new milestone, although not entirely unexpected. We know that since the holidays and starting to see that slow climb after the Thanksgiving holiday, health experts warn that we were going to see the peak in mid-January. And that is exactly what has come to pass. CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield has previously said that we would start to see numbers in daily counts for the death toll surpassing 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. And again, that is exactly what has come to pass.

We know that, of course, with things continuing to be complicated with the variants that are coming out of all-- not just the UK, which is, of course, going to be the most dominant strain according to the CDC, but also out of South Africa and another one in Europe, we are keeping an eye on these just to see what exactly comes to pass in terms of analysis on them. But as it stands right now, that is all we know.

We also know that the vaccines and their ability to block some of these variants is still in question. But we do know that vaccines in general continue to be a problem, with the rollout continuing to be slow and troublesome. Not just here in the US, but also--

ADAM SHAPIRO: Right.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: --in Europe and [INAUDIBLE].

ADAM SHAPIRO: Anjalee, I'm curious. You spoke with Jerome Adams, Dr. Jerome Adams, Surgeon General. What did he tell you? Any regrets?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: He did have one. We were talking about, you know, if things could be changed from this time last year, what would it be, and he said that messaging specifically was one of those things and making sure to emphasize that any kind of guidance coming out of the administration was sure to change, as is sort of the trajectory of new infectious diseases. So, you know, we could have been in a different place had health officials been given more leeway to say these things, Adam.

SEANA SMITH: All right, Anjalee, stick around. We want to continue this conversation. We want to bring in Dr. Lakshman Swamy. He is the ICU physician at Cambridge Health Alliance. And Dr. Swamy, great to have you on the program.

Let's just start with what Anjalee stopped with, and that's the US Surgeon General saying that he wishes the messaging would have been different from the beginning. That any guidance-- he wish he told the American people that any guidance at this point would be subject to change. If you think that was the messaging from the get-go, do you think we would be in a different place than we are right now?

LAKSHMAN SWAMY: Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I think the messaging is everything, you know? It's a scientific breakthrough to have the vaccines that we have. It's incredible. I've had my two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. I'm here. I feel fine. I went to work through the whole thing.

But I think the messaging goes a long way. There's a lot of people who are smart people, who are either refusing the vaccine, or, in many cases, unable to get access to the vaccine yet. And I think that there's a lot of room for improvement. Messaging could have done a lot to expedite that.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Doctor, I'm curious, though. We're hearing in New York City that we will run out of vaccine very soon. Are you confident that the incoming administration will be able to ramp up distribution of vaccine? That-- is it a production issue? What are you hearing?

LAKSHMAN SWAMY: You know, again, there's so many points in the supply chain, I can say that I'm confident in the industry to create a vaccine. And I think, you know, we should also give public health people, you know, some kudos that this is an incredibly hard logistic endeavor. As one of pathologist, Dr. Mazer, wrote in Wired recently, the logistics of this are as sophisticated as the technical-- as the scientific achievement.

And we've got to keep that in focus, you know. It's hard to-- you know, we so wish that we could get more vaccine to more people quicker. There's a lot of room for improvement. But it's not easy.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Swamy, Anjalee here. I'm curious about the transition that's coming up. We know that there is going to be a sort of a shift to focus more on FEMA, the National Guard, and have more government involvement. Is that going to help alleviate the burden on hospitals and on health systems?

LAKSHMAN SWAMY: Yeah, you know, I think so. I think that one of the strategy that our country kind of used was a really state-based approach to everything to do with the pandemic. And although I think that does have some strengths and some flexibility, you know, the messaging was fractured. And I think a unified response would have gone a long way. So I'm looking forward to that kind of unified response to the unified support to where we need it the most. I'm hopeful. I'm definitely hopeful.

SEANA SMITH: Dr. Swamy, what policies do you think need to be implemented on day one? We talk about further restrictions, obviously a mask mandate. But when you go as far as maybe shutting down some businesses, I guess, how helpful do you think that could be, at least in the short term?

LAKSHMAN SWAMY: You know, I think that it is-- what I saw personally in my own town, it's so hard for any of us to bear that responsibility, to make the right decision, whether it's to stay home or whatever. And I think when, again, the messaging, which comes out in policy, is clear and strong, it goes a really long way. I don't think we need much longer.

But it's always kind of, the more we do, the sooner we do it, the crisper the execution is of that. The less time we have to deal with it for and the sooner we can kind of be through all of this. So I think that more of the mask mandates can go a long way. And I think that we-- you know, I look forward to seeing what can be done there.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Swamy, one thing I heard from the nominee for the CDC is looking at messaging and how it can be done. We know that press briefings are going to likely return. But social media and its use, based on what you've seen and the experiences that you've had, is there a way for public messaging to start making its way into social media?

LAKSHMAN SWAMY: You know, I think that social media is messaging. It's alive, and public health is on there as well. I think there's a lot we can do to leverage social media to make it a less toxic message and a more positive message that really helps reinforce people's knowledge, to educate the public. It's incredibly powerful for that. And I hope we don't neglect that and really emphasize that route of messaging because we can get to people with social media.

SEANA SMITH: Dr. Lakshman Swamy, ICU physician in Cambridge Health Alliance, our thanks to you for coming on the program today. And of course, thanks, Anjalee Khemlani, for joining the conversation.