The Maryland State Health Department is reporting nearly 8,900 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. 68 fewer people are currently hospitalized for COVID, knocking that number below 3,000 for the first time in a while. Positivity rates that were closer to 30% a couple of weeks ago are now reported to be 18%.

We’ve been reporting these findings for two years. How accurate are the numbers that the Health Department collects, and if they are understated, as most experts assert that they are, how should they be used to shape public policy around issues like testing, mask mandates, and vaccine authentication?And what should we make of the heated political rhetoric that still surrounds the debate about the origins of the Coronavirus?

We're pleased to welcome back to the show Dr. Gigi Gronvall, an immunologist and Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She recently published an article in the journal Survival with recommendations about what governments and scientific institutions should do to address uncertainties about the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

We'll discuss those possible origins, and her policy recommendations, as Dr. Gigi Gronvall joins us on our digital line from Baltimore.