Emergency Medicine Physician Dr. Steven McDonald joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman to break down the latest coronavirus developments as the U.S. surpasses five million cases and a new study shows 97,000 kids tested positive for the virus as school is set to start.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: Let's focus in a bit more, though, on those health statistics here, because obviously, as we know well by this point, a lot is tied to the actual handling of the pandemic at hand. When we look at that, worrying numbers just to update you on when we think about the impact of the pandemic on the United States. According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker here, US cases of coronavirus topping 5 million yesterday. That means the US still tops the world in terms of overall cases. And an even more frightening statistic there, it also tops the world in terms of total deaths as a result of COVID-19, at more than 162,000 casualties.

When we think about all of this playing out right now, plans to reopen schools very much being discussed across the nation. And for more on that and the way we're trying to still handle all this, we're joined by our next guest. Dr. Steven McDonald is an emergency medicine physician, and he joins us now on the chat. And Dr. McDonald, I know you're busy, so thank you for taking the time to discuss all this with us. But right now, as we were just talking, it seems like the summer was really our opportunity to get a handle on the pandemic, and right now, it seems like testing has not caught up with, you know, the terrible state we started in, and basically have been playing catch-up this whole time. Is that the way you see it playing out?

STEVEN MCDONALD: Absolutely. You know, testing is just but one of the ways that we're lagging. We're also lacking in terms of contact tracing. You know, the statistics that you brought up are particularly grim, especially as other countries around the world celebrate successes that they're having with this pandemic. I think New Zealand today just celebrated 100 days of no community spread, which is incredible, and also sheds light on the fact that, you know, this really is a failure of leadership. This is not a uniquely American thing. This is something that could have been avoided.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, and when we think about how it could have been avoided, there's a lot of different takes on whether it was masks, testing, what really is going on here. But right now, obviously we've seen states move forward with their own plans, a lot being left up to governors and health officials in their own states to come up with those plans. The most important one, I think, right now being discussed on a local level is the reopening of schools.

And interesting statistics on that front when you think about how many kids have tested positive over the last two weeks. An American Academy of Pediatrics study found that nearly 100,000 children tested positive over the last few weeks in July. So I mean, when you think about that, and school reopenings and the risks associated with it, what's your take on maybe-- they might not be as susceptible as older populations, but still able to spread the disease, just as anybody else would be.

STEVEN MCDONALD: Sure. So you know, there's a little bit of thought that children constitute what we call our, quote unquote, reservoir, in epidemiologic language. This means that a child population might be a place where the virus can spread. And as we've seen, children can get very sick from this, but by and large, they do not. And so it's an excellent place for the virus to multiply, and then to then spread to adult hosts when those children go home for the day. And so potentially-- you know, New York City was hit so hard for many reasons, but one of those reasons may be the fact that we delayed school closing far longer than any other major American city. So I think, with that in mind, we have to be really thoughtful about how we reopen.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, I mean, well right now, on the flip side of that, we're talking about New York being the largest public school system here to think about resuming classes in person come the fall. And on that front, interesting updates in terms of all of the local school districts supposedly supposed to put in plans over the weekend, due Friday for officials to review. Sounds like more than 100 districts did not put in a plan yet. And when we think about what they're tying it to, looking at a specific positivity rate for giving the go-ahead in resuming in-person classes. But what's your take maybe on how that should be tracked and monitored, and whether or not it's even possible if we don't have testing capabilities.

STEVEN MCDONALD: No, absolutely. I mean, listen, Governor Cuomo said anywhere that the infection rate is less than 5% is eligible for school reopening. And that's in accordance with WHO guidelines. And then Mayor de Blasio said, for New York City, anywhere with a 3% infectivity rate is eligible for reopening. So even more stringent. We should just remind ourselves that these guidelines are not necessarily evidence-based. These are just sort of thoughts that make sense to leaders in the scientific community.

But we have yet to see if these will actually work. And as you said, it will be highly dependent on what kind of protocols are put in place. You know, there are tradeoffs to be made here. School, especially in New York City, provides child care and food for many students. And so that needs to be weighed against the effects of the pandemic and the risk of reopening schools to teachers, to families, et cetera.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, it's one of the few areas that we're seeing this even discussed, a lot of places just not feeling comfortable with the idea of in-person classes. We saw that play out in Chicago, as well. But when we think about other states and other cities, you know, on their own trajectory, because we've seen New York come down, I mean, it's kind of a case right now to be made for how you should be able to handle this if you get things moving in the right direction, you have people wearing masks.

But there is still that lingering fear of a resurgence even here in New York, when you think about travelers coming, and how little can actually be done to track that. And we've seen efforts, but I-- anecdotally, there's a lot of people who aren't filling out those traveler forms. So what's your take on the risks of resurgence, even in a state like New York, where things are largely under control?

STEVEN MCDONALD: I mean, the risk is very real. I just have to say, in my own practice in the emergency room, the coronavirus cases that I'm seeing and colleagues of mine are seeing are largely from travelers who come from hotspot states, which is very disconcerting. We've made a lot of progress here. We all locked down. It was a real collective effort in New York City. And so to have these cases come in is really upsetting in some way.

I do think that a second wave is somewhat inevitable. We're really benefiting right now from the fact that many activities can take place outside. As people move indoors, infection rates are, I think, bound to go up. But we'll see.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, and lastly, just before we let you go, because I like having doctors who have real experience dealing with all this right now, when we think about how bad testing is, we've heard Bill Gates come out and attack how bad we are in this country at testing, how some people can get test results in a matter of hours elsewhere around the world, and then you've got people waiting up to seven days, perhaps longer to get the results, and how little they are to do with that information if they could have known a little bit earlier. So what has it been like, as a doctor, to watch all that play out and have so few insights into what you should be telling patients?

STEVEN MCDONALD: I mean, it's been really difficult. It's unfortunate to have these conversations with patients where I tell them that their follow-up time for a test will be six days, eight days, however long. And people look at me in disbelief, as they should. We are the richest country in the world, and yet we comprise 25% of cases with only 3% of the population. And our testing should be so much more robust than this. It's just really frustrating.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah. And part of the reason why we're seeing so many push for enhanced capabilities on the testing front. But we'll leave that there for now. Appreciate you taking the time to discuss that, Dr. Steven McDonald. Thanks again.