 From my understanding, every single time the virus spreads, that's another opportunity for it to mutate. And so if it's mutating at this rate of every two weeks, I know that you don't have a crystal ball, but how long do you think it would take for a new variant of concern to emerge that actually does bypass the vaccines? I know that the Lambda variant that emerges out of Peru is a variant of concern, and there's not much information yet. But I mean, do you think it would be unreasonable to predict that in a year, a new variant could go straight through to the vaccines? It's a really good question, and one that's actually really complex to answer. I'll kind of give you like a higher level. So we know the coronavirus isn't mutating as quickly as the flu. So that's why we need a new vaccine every year, just because the flu changes so quickly. On the other spectrum, coronavirus is mutating faster than, for example, the measles, which hasn't changed since the 60s. So coronavirus is somewhere in between. We think that, or our hypothesis is that we'll need a shot every couple of years. The reason we need lots of shots right now is because this thing is mutating so fast. Transmission is so high. Once we get transmission down and keep it down, the rate in which this thing changes will also decrease over time. It'll decelerate. So we don't know, honestly. It could be tomorrow that this thing mutates. It could be never that it mutates to escape our vaccines. It's just not a game that we're wanting to play. You mentioned Lambda. There's actually really good news that came out this week that Lambda is actually fizzling out. So it may have been more dangerous, but it's not more transmissible than Delta. So it can't push Delta out of the way, which is fantastic news. The other thing we're paying attention to right now is Delta Plus, which is the Delta variant with another mutation on the spike protein. Yeah. And we're keeping a close eye on that. Very low rates in the United States right now. And so we're really, the threat right now is Delta. Okay, that's good news about Lambda actually. I was trying to follow that as much as I could, but that's really encouraging to hear. Getting a little bit more doomer, however, is I've noticed that there is a correlation between increased COVID-19 cases among children and the prevalence of the Delta variant. Now, from what I understand, there's not necessarily proof that there is a causal relationship, but what do you know about the Delta variants effect on kids? Because I know that there's a lot of anecdotal evidence that hospitals are filling up. PICUs are reaching full capacity in some places and it's really, really concerning. So what do you know about the Delta variant as it relates to children? Yeah, it is, the numbers are concerning. I'm in the South when it's really concerning right now. Our PICUs are full. We don't know whether Delta is more severe than previous variants. We have a little bit of evidence from Scotland and Canada that Delta is more severe for adults. And so we're kind of making the assumption that's maybe a little more severe for kids as well compared to past variants. The good news is though, honestly, we're very lucky because the rate of severe disease among kids compared to adults is so low. And this is really weird. Typically in viruses like H1N1, kids are the most vulnerable and elderly are the most vulnerable because of their weak immune systems. And that's just not the case with coronavirus. And I think we got really lucky. With that said though, if hospitalization is around one to 2% with COVID, we have 50 million kids in the United States that are unvaccinated, one to 2% of 50 million is a lot of people. And so on an individual level, right? The risk is low. The problem is you start looking at a population level and then we start talking about needing to flatten the curve again. We're gonna overwhelm our healthcare systems. We're already seeing that in the South. And that is what truly the concern is for epidemiologists or public health officials. The other thing that's really important, which I actually think gets kind of pushed to the side a lot is the risk of severe disease is lower among kids. The problem is that it is clear that kids have a very important role in the transmission chain. They are able to spread the virus very efficiently and effectively and sometimes even better than adults. And so that's why it's even important when we start talking about schools, right? Yes, we're very concerned about the kids health, the teacher's health, but also their role in keeping transition down won't work because they keep spreading it too. And so that is a really important key and ending this thing is ending transmission among kids as well. Yeah, and you talk about the proactive versus the reactive response when it comes to policy and we're seeing some kids resume schooling and they're having to go into quarantine because there's hundreds of cases in some instance. What do you think is the good policy prescription as an expert in this field? I mean, should distance learning be resumed? I know that there's a lot of COVID fatigue and people are just kind of over it. But having said that though, it's still really serious and as you said, kids are transmitting it. So what do you think would be the best thing for parents to do as they make their decisions in the Pacific Northwest? School is resuming in a couple of weeks. What do you think is the best decision if you had like a magic wand and you can institute the correct policy like that? Yeah, so I've always been a big proponent that we need schools open. There's a lot of value of instruction learning. There's a lot of value, especially when we start talking about equity. People, kids rely on schools for food, for safety, for, I mean, there's so many reasons beyond just school. And so I've always been a big proponent of that. But there's a big if though. And that's if and when we implement public health mitigation measures, we can open schools safely in the middle of a pandemic. We saw this study after study after study last year that a lot of schools opened up and with masks with this layered approach of testing, of distancing, of good ventilation in schools and classrooms, transmission was really low. And even low among a community with the background of community transmission is very high. So we have the tools to do it. The problem is, and I think this is what you kind of hinted at is the ability, at least in the South, to implement those without getting fined without going to jail. And so that's the challenge right now is convincing people to follow the science to open schools safely.