the children are back in school. all of this provides an environment for these viruses to spread. now, the good news is, we have two vaccines against these three viruses. one against covid. the other vaccine against flu. it is time for everyone to get both of those vaccines to provide the best protection for ourselves, our families, and our communities. important advice there. our thanks to dr. william shafner at vanderbilt university medical center. an umbrella may be part of a proper halloween costume on monday night. our meteorologist joins us with the forecast. across areas of the great lakes and the northeast as well. it will not be a washout. we will see bans of showers.
monoclonal antibodies were credited for his speedy recovery. these treatments are less effective against omicron which accounts for 99.5% of covid cases in the u.s. we know how to make the new monoclonals that would work against omicron but we have to test them. testing them is a long process. we think about gradual improvements. we are going to be able to improve our vaccines and we will have more antiviral drugs in the research pipeline coming along. dr. william shafner from vanderbilt university says improved covid treatments will continue to reduce rates of hospitalization and death among covid patients but won t eliminate the need for vaccines. prevention and treatment are a one-two punch. the biggest punch comes from prevention. supplies of covid treatments are expected to ramp up
get to at least one of our viewer questions and this one s asked are we still relying on vaccination herd immunity to bring this pandemic to an end, dr. shafner? herd immunity with such a contagious variant would have to be very, very high. we re just trying to cope at the moment. we would like to get as many people vaccinated as possible. i can that would create herd immunity, but we have to get way over 90% of people compliant in order to have that done. yeah, we re only at about 61% fully vaccinated right now. thank you so much dr. william schaffner, we will leave it there. thank you. well, joe said no but democrats have another idea to keep build back better alive and maybe getting senator manchin back on board. congresswoman maxine waters on with me next, to see if she can get behind this idea. also, new lines for testing, but what about new years eve in
covid is because the first destination we were told to go to, it took, we sat there for a couple of hours and then we found out they wouldn t let us on the destination because of so many people on the ship having covid and just let everybody go about their business. well cnn asked carnival for a response but the company did not directly address that passenger s specific claim. all right, more now, with infectious disease professor dr. william shafner from vanderbilt university, doctor, welcome, thanks so much for joining me. obviously, christmas is now behind us but, you know, if we ve been with family, gathered with friends, should we be testing before considering, you know, any plans especially for new years? well, sure, amara. i think that is a very good idea. we are at a critical jurngz.
season when people are grouping together? you just simplified it. william shafner mixed this up. i think you just gave the right answer. if you have are going into a very large place and there may be a number of people there who could be super spreaders, that is when you wear a mask. if you go into a home where you know everybody is vaccinated or there is no or little risk you will ruin your holiday gathering with a mask. don t need to do that. masks are for large public places where you don t know. harris: why won t the white house tell us that? it s so basic. i bet they watch us. maybe we can help. harris: let s move to this. the cdc is reporting new nationwide covid numbers with cases up nearly 40% from just last week. some of this we anticipated, doctor, because people are inside now. it has been nice in new york, it s about to get cold. the more we group indoors again.