With the FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Connecticut is set for what Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday called a “new spring” - but before we get there, we have a lot of work to do. Neighboring New York has said they’ll shut down indoor dining on Monday in an attempt to slow the rapid spread of the disease, which has spiked positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths across the country. Lamont has resisted calls by many doctors to do the same.

In Connecticut, one in 700 residents has died already from COVID, and hundreds of businesses have been forced to close, probably for good. Physicians are concerned about the hospital system becoming overwhelmed. So, what does our road ahead look like? We gathered three experts last Wednesday on Zoom to take questions from our Mirror audience.

They have wide expertise in the medical, logistical and economic challenges we face. 

• Howard Forman, director of the health care management program at Yale School of Public Health and mentor to some of the nation’s leading health care experts and leaders
• Tekisha Everette, executive director of Health Equity Solutions, public health professor at Yale University, member of the governor’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group
• Matthew Spiegel, finance professor at Yale University and co-author of a recent Yale study on which COVID restrictions have proven most effective