Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah Joined Hot Radio Maine to Discuss the Current State of Covid-19 in Maine, Vaccines, the Youth, Timelines and the Future.
Scarborough, ME – Tuesday morning Dr. Nirav Shah, the Maine CDC Director, joined Ryan Deelon on Hot Radio Maine for a conversation. The fourteen-minute conversation aired statewide across Hot Radio Maine’s three signals and touched on the current state of Covid-19 in Maine, “Covid fatigue”, vaccines and their timelines, our future outlook and more. During the discussion they discussed the roll out of the vaccines in the state and emphasized that while there is light at the end of the tunnel there’s a lot of effort needed to get there. Dr. Shah said “It’s going to take a while to get folks vaccinated. In order for the vaccine to really start making inroads against Covid… we need to vaccinate anywhere from 60 maybe up to 75% of everybody in Maine. Not everybody over a certain age, not everyone who’s right-handed, everybody in Maine. That’s something that’s going to take an effort… It may be several months, if not longer, even after the vaccine starts getting administered to folks that we start seeing the numbers of virus come down such that we all feel comfortable.”
The conversation with Dr. Shah continued an on-going effort by Hot Radio Maine to educate the Maine public, particularly the youth on the facts surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic including the fact that it can also actually impact their health. To that point, Dr. Shah said “What we’ve seen in the last 6 or 8 weeks is that a larger and larger percentage of the new cases we have are among younger folks. The average age of the average person with Covid-19 has come down really significantly.
Dr. Shah warned that the pandemic is currently a “runaway train” and even with the first doses of the vaccine coming that it is only going to work to slow the train down. The tone of the discussion was serious and stressed the need to continue implementing current safety measures especially around the holiday season. However, in a lighter moment Dr. Shah had fun answering a common question that the station poses to listeners: “What is the first concert you’d like to attend post pandemic?” Maine residents can look for Dr. Shah at any 80’s cover band show or perhaps supporting Maine’s own Spose who he’s also collaborated with on public service announcements.
