It’s the early weeks of Year Three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and following a surge caused by the omicron variant, the pandemic numbers in America are once again heading in the right direction. New cases and hospitalizations are down. The New York Times reports that since the pandemic began in January 2020, at least 1 in 4 people who live in the United States have been infected.

More than 901,000 people in the US have died.

We begin today with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She was appointed to head the federal disease-fighting agency by President Biden in December 2020, and took the reins in January 2021.

Dr. Walensky joins us on Zoom from CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.