BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Grappling with the current coronavirus pandemic is kind of like fighting a forest fire blindfold.
That is the view of Dr. Jospeh B. McCormick, MD, MS, former regional dean of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health in Brownsville.
McCormick, a renowned epidemiologist, has battled epidemics in South America and Africa before. He said the current COVID-19 crisis is one of the worst epidemics he has witnessed.
“We are seeing one of the worst pandemics since the 1918 flu. I worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for over 20 years and investigated outbreaks from Brazil to the ebola outbreaks in west Africa and central Africa. But, this is one of the worst I have ever seen,” McCormick said.
McCormick noted that the United States is the richest country in the world and its population is only a quarter of the population of China.
“But, we have now surpassed China in the number of cases of this disease that we have. This virus is highly infectious and we don’t have a vaccine, nor do we have treatment for this disease. We don’t have adequate testing so that we know where the virus is and we are speculating on who might be infected. We are kind of fighting a forest fire blindfold.”
McCormick is now the James H. Steele Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Texas Houston School of Public Health. He made his comments during a virtual town hall meeting about the coronavirus hosted by state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., of Brownsville.
In addition to Sen. Lucio, McCormick was joined at the virtual town hall meeting by Dr. James Castillo, II, MD, of Cameron County Public Health, Esmeralda Guajardo, health administrator for Cameron County Public Health, Dr. E. Linda Villarreal, MD, chair-elect of the Texas Medical Association, and Dr. John Hellerstedt, MD, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Editor’s Note: The attached podcast features the remarks of Sen. Lucio, Dr. McCormick, and Dr. Villarreal.
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