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Stay up to date with the latest news on the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. We'll post regular updates from NPR and regional news from the WRVO newsroom. You can also find updates on our live blog.

This week: Pandemic overview and the promise of a vaccine

Almost a year ago, "HealthLink on Air" first talked about a novel coronavirus with Upstate’s chief of infectious disease, Dr. Stephen Thomas, who is also a professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology at Upstate.

A new outbreak of a respiratory virus in China had sickened more than 6,000 people and killed 132 by January 2020, but it wasn’t until mid-March that a global pandemic was declared. Since then, more than 13 million people have been infected in the United States, and 267,000 deaths have been tallied.

In this episode of “HealthLink on Air,” Thomas tells about the promise of vaccination, from his vantage point as the lead principal investigator for the Pfizer/Bio-N-Tech global phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial. He also discusses the disease and how it is treated, and why people who have survived COVID-19 still need to wear masks. Listen this Sunday, December 6 at 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. for more.

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