Learn English with News American English Conversation Vocabulary Training Free English Lesson

Today we’re going to study some 
vocabulary and some idioms together,  

watching a news clip on YouTube. It’s Anderson 
Cooper interviewing Bill Gates on Covid-19,  

some of the therapies that are being developed, 
and what the fall is going to look like,  

a very current topic, something 
that’s on a lot of people’s minds.

You’re going to hear some words that 
relate specifically to Covid-19,  

but also just some more advance vocabulary 
words that can help your English sound more  

sophisticated. I think learning English 
this way is a great way because when you  

learn a word in a context like this, I 
think it makes it easier to remember.

As always, if you like this video or 
you learn something new, please like it,  

give it a thumbs up, and subscribe 
with notifications, it really helps.
 

Let’s talk about the format of this 
video. You’re going to watch a clip,  

and onscreen, there will be 
white words with a red outline,  

those are the words that we’ll study 
after we watch the clip. Like this:

That’s always been the most 
promising therapeutic category.  

The other therapeutic categories, the antivirals, 
like Remdesphere has only had modest benefit–
 

Then after the clip, you and I will go over it 
in-depth, together looking at the pronunciation,  

the meaning, and the context 
of the word or phrase so that  

you’ll definitely understand it and remember it.

The first clip is the question that Mr. Cooper 
asked, it’s 45 seconds long, let’s take a look.

The coronavirus death toll in the United states 
is now more than 212,000 people in this country,  

total number of cases more than seven and a 
half million. Staggering numbers of course.  

There’s precious little sign of things slowing 
down. Add to that, president trump’s diagnosis,  

the high infection numbers, the white house, 
the overall lag in widespread testing, contact  

tracing, it’s certainly a recipe for concern 
as the fall begins in the winter, Bill Gates is  

joining us he’s co-chair of the Bill and Melinda 
Gates foundation, has long put his fortune  

and talent behind searching for cures for this 
global health crisis and for other global health  

crisis. He joins me now, Bill, thanks for being 
with us. Looking at where the US is right now in  

this pandemic, and during the fall in the winter, 
cases on the rise, not just in small clusters, but  

across most of the nation, how concerned 
are you about the months ahead?
 

Wow, okay, a lot of words there to learn 
there. The first was: death toll.
 

The coronavirus death toll in the United states 
is now more than 212,000 people in this country–

Death toll. This refers to 
the number of people who died  

in relation to a particular event. For 
example here, the coronavirus pandemic.  

Or it could be a natural disaster 
like an earthquake or a tsunami.

Death toll. We have an unvoiced TH, the tongue 
tip does have to come through the teeth there.  

Death– and then you’ll go right into a true T. 
Now the word ‘toll’ has the OH as in No diphthong,  

but when it’s followed by a Dark 
L like it is here, it’s not tow–  

towl– towl– but it’s toh– ohl– 
ohl– A little bit more rounded,  

tongue pulled back a little bit more, 
death toll. Let’s watch that clip again.

The coronavirus death toll in the United states 
is now more than 212,000 people in this country–

Let’s go on to the next clip.

Total number of cases more 
than seven and a half million.

Cases. This word has a couple of different 
uses. But in this particular case,  

it means an instance of something, an 
occurrence of something. In other words,  

one person who has the coronavirus. 
That would be a case. And all of the  

people would be a bunch of cases, people who 
have the coronavirus. Let’s listen again.

Total number of cases more 
than seven and a half million. 

Let keep going.

Staggering numbers, of course.

Staggering means overwhelming, a huge amount, 
a very large number. Let’s watch again.

Staggering numbers, of course.

Our next clip.

There’s precious little 
sign of things slowing down.

Precious little, you might also hear the 
term ‘precious few’, this means very little,  

a very little amount of something, extremely 
low in number, let’s watch this clip again.

There’s precious little 
sign of things slowing down.

‘Precious little sign’ means really no 
sign at all. If anything, just a very,  

very small sign, but there’s 
precious little evidence  

that the pandemic is slowing 
down. Let’s go to our next clip.

Add to that, President Trump’s diagnosis, 
the high infection numbers, the White House.

A couple words here. First, diagnosis. This 
is when you figure out a problem or an issue,  

specifically by looking at the different clues. 
For example, in medicine. If someone is sick, you  

look at the different ways in which they’re sick. 
What hurts? What happened? What are their blood  

levels? This kind of thing. And you look at all 
of that information and you can make a diagnosis  

based on that information, you think you have this 
disease. Um, it can also be used for, for example,  

the word problem, we need to diagnose the problem. 
Let’s say something is wrong with my car, it’s  

not working, I don’t know why. I have to get in 
there and look at what specifically is happening.  

Well, it looks like nothing 
happens when I turn the key. Okay,  

I’m going to make a diagnosis that my car needs 
a new battery. Diagnosis. Let’s watch again.

Add to that, President Trump’s diagnosis, 
the high infection numbers, the White House.

Infection and numbers. The number of people 
that are infected. What does this mean? Well,  

infected just means sick, in this case, got 
the disease. Let’s watch that one more time.

Add to that, President Trump’s diagnosis, 
the high infection numbers, the White House.

Let’s go on to our next clip.

The overall lag in widespread 
testing, contact tracing, it’s–

To lag means to fall behind. So this could be 
either a goal that you have, you’re falling  

behind your goal, you’re lagging, or it can mean 
compared to someone else. For example, in a race,  

maybe you’re winning the race, and you’re 
running right next to somebody, and then  

when you’re getting close again, you 
start to feel tired, you can’t keep up,  

you start to lag behind just a little 
bit. Let’s listen to this example again.

The overall lag in widespread 
testing, contact tracing, it’s–

A lag in widespread testing. What does widespread 
mean? It means something that many people are  

doing or feeling. For example, if a mayor 
is very popular of the town, you could say  

that mayor has widespread support. Most of 
the people, lots of people support that. So  

widespread testing means most people getting 
tested, many tests happening, in this case,  

we’re lagging behind, so that’s not happening, 
we’re not meeting the goal of widespread testing.

The overall lag in widespread 
testing, contact tracing, it’s–

What is contact tracing? This is when someone is 
sick and you go back and you look at the window  

where they might have gotten sick. And you try to 
find out everyone that they were in contact with.  

Then you reach out to those people. You see 
are any of them sick? When you find somebody  

who’s sick, you think: okay maybe this is 
how that person got sick. So you’re going  

back to everyone that somebody was in contact 
with and you’re trying to find out who’s sick,  

who else might have gotten sick, and you find 
that path of how the infection was passed  

so you can understand how it’s 
spreading. Let’s listen one more time.

The overall lag in widespread 
testing, contact tracing, it’s–

And let’s move on now.

It’s certainly a recipe for concern 
as the fall begins and the winter–

If something is a recipe for something, 
then that means it’s likely to lead to it.  

You may have heard the phrase ‘a recipe 
for disaster’ it’s a pretty common phrase,  

and it means what we’re seeing makes it seem like 
it’s very likely that a disaster will happen.  

Let’s say for example, you have little kids, um, 
your toddler skipped his nap, didn’t eat lunch,  

you can say, oh this is a recipe for disaster, 
your kid is probably going to have a meltdown  

and you’re going to have a difficult day. 
Let’s listen to how he used it again.

Certainly a recipe for concern as 
the fall begins and the winter–

A recipe for concern, so everything that’s 
going on is leading to a call to be concerned,  

it will likely make people 
concerned when they see that there’s  

not enough contact tracing, not enough 
testing. It’s a recipe for concern.

Certainly a recipe for concern as 
the fall begins and the winter–

Let’s go on to the next clip.

Bill Gates is joining us he’s co-chair 
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation–

Co-chair, this means he’s sharing the 
position of chair. He’s not the only  

chair of the foundation. And the chair of the 
foundation would be one of the people who leads  

it. You might have also heard the phrase co-pilot. 
So that means there’s more than one pilot,  

more than one person in charge of flying the 
plane. Let’s listen to this example again.

Bill Gates is joining us, he’s co-chair 
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation–

And let’s keep going.

So long put his fortune and  

talent behind searching for cures 
for this global health crisis and–

Fortune this means a lot of money, a lot 
of wealth, Bill Gates is certainly sitting  

on a fortune, he’s made a lot of money in his 
lifetime. Let’s listen to this example again.

So long put his fortune and 
talent behind searching for  

cures for this global health crisis and–

Talent just means skill, something that 
you’re good at, he’s run a company and he  

runs a foundation, and now he’s 
using that talent, that skill,  

to try to help the world find a cure for 
Covid-19, coronavirus. And that takes me  

to cure. What does this word mean? It means to 
relieve the symptoms of a disease, you could  

say he’s cured of the disease he no longer 
has the disease. Let’s listen one more time.

So long put his fortune and  

talent behind searching for cures 
for this global health crisis and–

And let’s keep going.

Health crisis and for other global health crises–

A crisis. It’s when things have gotten bad, it’s 
dramatic. We are desperate to find an answer.  

Let’s listen to how he uses it again.

Health crisis and for other global health crises.

So he calls what we’re in a health crisis. And 
then he goes on to say other global health crises.

Health crisis and for other global health crises.

So really, that probably should have been 
plural, and the plural isn’t crisis, it’s crises.  

So this is a word where the plural changes one 
of the vowel sounds in the word. So crisis,  

singular, crises is plural. So it’s not crisises, 
but crises. Let’s listen one more time again,  

the last time he says it, he probably 
should have used the plural crises.

Health crisis and for other global health crises.

Let’s keep going.

He joins me now, Bill, thanks 
for being with us. Looking at  

where the US is right now in this pandemic, 
and during the fall and the winter,  

cases on the rise, not just in small 
clusters but across most of the nation–

A cluster is a group of something. So 
for example, a cluster of bananas it  

grows in a tight bunch a group. So when 
the coronavirus is in little clusters,  

then that means it hasn’t really 
spread too far and wide yet.  

This group of people has it. This group of people 
has it. And you hope that that’s how it stays. You  

hope it doesn’t spread further than that. But 
in this case, he’s talking about how it has.

Cases on the rise, not just in small 
clusters but across most of the nation–

Not just in small clusters. Unfortunately, but 
it’s really spread. Let’s listen one more time.

Cases on the rise, not just in small 
clusters but across most of the nation–

Let’s keep going.

How concerned are you about the months ahead?

Now I want to talk about the 
pronunciation of the word  

months. He dropped the TH sound and instead 
made a T sound. Months. Months. Months. Months.  

And this is a common pronunciation, 
we’ll hear Bill Gates use it later,  

so it’s not months, that’s a little bit more 
work and effort, and most native speakers  

will not put the tongue tip through, we’ll 
make a t instead months. Let’s listen again.

How concerned are you about the months ahead?

One of the things we talked about there was 
the pronunciation of the word months. And  

that got me thinking about pronunciation. 
I know if you’re watching this video,  

if you follow this channel, pronunciation is 
something you care a lot about. And I’m excited  

to announce that I have a partnership with an app 
called ELSA Speak. This is an app that uses AI,  

artificial intelligence, to give 
you feedback on your pronunciation.

So you speak into your phone and you get a score.

Pretty cool! I’ve been looking for an app for 
a while now that uses ai, and I’m so glad I  

partnered with elsa speak. Yes, you will find 
my videos from my YouTube channel right there  

in their app as you learn and work on some of 
the sounds. All my videos are free on ELSA,  

but if you want even more lessons, they 
are offering a deal to all of my Rachel’s  

English students who want to unlock a premium 
experience, including 80% off a lifetime pass.  

If you get this in the next 72 hours, you 
can even give three months free to a friend.

Isn’t that exciting? You can speak into your 
phone and get a score back. I love this idea.  

Download the app. Do one of the lessons and then 
put the score you get in the comments below.  

I’m hoping you get a really great 
score that you’re happy with,  

if not, the materials are right there to practice 
with. Now let’s get back to this interview,  

we have the answer. Mr. Gates speaks 
for 45 seconds, answering the question.

Well, I’m very concerned. The forecast showed 
that the deaths are going to go back up, almost to  

the level they were in the spring. And, you know, 
it’s people are going to be indoors more, uh, the  

compliance with the distancing and the mask use is 
going down in many areas that never got super good  

in some areas, and so except for the innovative 
tools that I’m sure we’ll talk about, this is  

going to be a very difficult fall because people, 
you know, the economic effects, the uh, tiredness,  

the kids not being able to go to school, 
this continuation is a very difficult thing.

Well, I’m very concerned–

So concerned means worried, feeling anxious 
about something, let’s listen again.

Well, I’m very concerned– very concerned–

Let’s keep listening to see what 
is Bill Gates very concerned about.

The forecast showed that the  

deaths are going to go back up, almost 
to the level they were in the spring.

Forecast means predictions, what we 
think will happen, what the experts  

think will happen based on what 
they know. Let’s listen again.

The forecast showed that the 
deaths are going to go back up,  

almost to the level they were in the spring.

Let’s keep going.

And, you know, it’s people are going 
to be indoors more, uh, the compliance  

with the distancing and the mask 
use is going down in many areas–

Compliance means following the rules. Are people 
doing what they’re supposed to be doing? If so,  

then they’re compliant. If not, then 
we have a problem with compliance.

And, you know, it’s people are going 
to be indoors more, uh, the compliance  

with the distancing and the mask 
use is going down in many areas–

Distancing. Now, this is a word 
that I didn’t hear or use very much  

prior to the pandemic. Distance as 
a noun, so it just means the amount  

of space. Distancing. And you’ll hear the 
phrase social distancing, and that refers to  

what we’re being told to do, which is six feet 
apart, maintain six feet apart from other people  

when indoors, if you’re not wearing a mask 
especially. Distancing. Let’s listen again.

And, you know, it’s people are going 
to be indoors more, uh, the compliance  

with the distancing and the mask use is going 
down in many areas, it never got super good  

in some areas, and so except for the innovative 
tools that I’m sure we’ll talk about–

Innovative means creative, something 
that wasn’t there before, something very  

new, and so an innovative tool 
would be starting from scratch,  

not with what we already have established, 
but something brand new. Innovative.

And so except for the innovative tools 
that I’m sure we’ll talk about, this–

The innovative tools for treating this disease,  

tools that were not there before. 
Let’s listen one more time.

And so except for the innovative tools 
that I’m sure we’ll talk about, this–

And let’s keep going.

This is going to be a very difficult fall because 
people, you know, the economic effects, the,  

uh tiredness, the kids not 
being able to go to school–

The economic effects. What are 
the impacts that are being felt  

on the economy? Well, a lot of businesses have 
shut down. Lots of people have lost their jobs.  

It’s a very serious situation. The economic 
effect, the economic impact of covid-19.

This is going to be a very difficult fall because 
people you know, the economic effects, the, uh,  

tiredness, the kids not 
being able to go to school–

Let’s keep going–

Uh, this continuation is a very difficult thing–

Continuation. Extension. The fact 
that this is still happening.  

You know, a lot of people thought 
back in march, when we first had our  

shutdown here in philadelphia, that 
it was only going to be a few weeks.  

So it’s kind of mind-blowing that here in the 
fall, we’re still talking about it, we have this  

continuation of the problem, and it’s starting 
to be harder for people to follow the rules.

Uh, this continuation, is a very difficult thing.

Let’s keep going.

You’ve talked about the, some of the 
sophisticated tools, the therapeutics that,  

that are coming, and that some some are here–

Sophisticated. Altered by education, experience, 
it might mean more complex, its opposite would  

be basic, something a little lower level versus 
higher level, the higher level of sophistication.  

And here, he’s talking about sophisticated 
therapeutics. Well, a therapeutic is something  

that can help someone feel better, get better, 
recover from a disease. Let’s listen again.

You’ve talked about the, some of the 
sophisticated tools, the therapeutics that,  

that are coming, and that some some are here–

Let’s keep going.

Can you just talk a little bit, I mean,  

let’s talk about, uh, regeneron, 
you’ve been optimistic about it–

Regeneron is one of the companies who’s making 
a drug that we hope will treat coronavirus.  

And he also used the word optimistic. This 
means takes a positive view of things,  

feels good about how things could turn out. 
The opposite is pessimistic, where you take a  

negative view on things, and you think things 
won’t turn out. Let’s watch this clip again.

Can you just talk a little bit, I 
mean, let’s talk about, uh, Regeneron,  

you’ve been optimistic about it–

Optimistic about it, means he’s hopeful, he thinks 
that it really could work. Let’s keep going.

It got, obviously, a big endorsement from 
President Trump because he was able to,  

to receive it, he’s calling it a cure.

Endorsement. This is like an approval or 
recommendation for something. Let’s listen again.

It got, obviously, a big endorsement from 
president trump because he was able to,  

to receive it, he’s calling it a cure.

He received it. He felt the benefit. 
He endorses it. Let’s keep going.

Uh, he’s calling on regulators to 
give an emergency use authorization.

Regulators. These are the people in charge of 
the regulations, the rules around something, how  

we’ll do it, in this case, drugs, how were they 
tested? How are they rolled out to the public?  

Emergency use authorization. So this would 
say, okay, this is an emergency case, we’re in  

a pandemic so even though we have these rules and 
these regulations about how we normally do things,  

because we’re in this emergency, we’re going to 
give authorization to do it differently this time,  

probably more quickly. Emergency use 
authorization. Let’s listen to this clip again.

Uh, he’s calling on regulators to 
give an emergency use authorization.

Let’s keep going.

Do you support the idea of the emergency use 
authorization? And I assume it’s not a cure.

To assume it means to think something 
is true based on what else you know,  

without actually knowing for sure 
that it’s true. Let’s listen again.

Do you support the idea of the emergency use 
authorization? And I assume, uh, it’s not a cure.

Let’s keep going.

Let’s hear the answer from Mr. Gates.

No, the, well, the word cure uh, is a bit of 
an over promise, you know, that makes it sound  

it looks like works for everyone and the whole 
concern about this disease should go away and  

that’s the last thing we want people think about. 
The monoclonal antibodies, which is what regeneron  

is, that’s always been the most promising 
therapeutic category. The other therapeutic  

categories, the antivirals, like Remdesphere 
has only had modest benefit, there may be one  

more of those you know plasma or hyperimmune 
globulin, is still unproven and, that looks  

like it’ll be a fairly slow track and so the the 
most exciting thing, uh, that for many months, uh,  

our foundation, others have been uh working on and 
talking about, are these monoclonal antibodies.

No, the, well, the word cure uh, is 
a bit of an over promise, you know,  

that makes it sound it looks like works for 
everyone and the whole concern about this  

disease should go away and that’s the 
last thing we want people think about.

To ‘over promise’ means to say you can do more 
than you actually can. One thing you don’t want  

to do is over promise and under deliver. That 
means say you’ll be able to do more, but when it  

comes to actually doing it do less, because that’s 
going to leave people disappointed, over promise.

No, the, well, the word cure uh, is 
a bit of an over promise, you know,  

that makes it sound it looks like works for 
everyone and the whole concern about this  

disease should go away and that’s the 
last thing we want people think about.

So, Bill Gates is optimistic. He thinks that this  

could really be good for people, but he 
says it’s an over promise to call it a cure,  

because it’s probably not going to be all 
the way to curing everybody of this issue.

The monoclonal antibodies, 
which is what Regeneron is–

Monoclonal antibodies, now, no, I 
cannot claim to know what this means,  

it’s just part of the, what’s in the drug, 
but let’s listen to the pronunciation of it.

The monoclonal antibodies, 
which is what Regeneron is–

Antibodies, antibodies, did you notice 
he didn’t say the T? Antibodies,  

it’s pretty common to drop T after N and that’s 
what he does here. Let’s listen one more time.

The monoclonal antibodies, 
which is what regeneron is–

And let’s keep going.

That’s always been the most 
promising therapeutic category.

If something is promising, then it really looks 
like it could be good. We really hope that it’s  

what will work in the long run, or that it will be 
fantastic. You could also use it for example with  

a young pianist. Learning to play the piano, 
looks like he’s going to be very, very good,  

you could say this kid has a lot 
of promise. Let’s listen again.

That’s always been the most 
promising therapeutic category.

It’s a promising therapeutic category. It shows 
a lot of hope. He feels very positive about it,  

that it could work out. Let’s keep going.

The other therapeutic categories, the antivirals, 
like Remdesphere, has only had modest benefit.

Modest benefit. That means not a huge 
benefit, not as big maybe as had been  

hoped. You might hear modest also applied 
to something like a house. He lives in a  

modest house. That means it’s small, it’s not 
very showy. Let’s listen to this clip again.

The other therapeutic categories, the antivirals, 
like Remdesphere, has only had modest benefit.

Modest benefit. Not a large 
benefit. Let’s keep going.

Uh, there may be one more 
of those, you know, plasma  

or um, hyper immune globulin is still unproven.

Plasma, the liquid part of the blood. The 
other word we saw up there, I’m going to  

be honest with you, it’s very medical, I 
don’t know what it means, but I wanted to  

put it up there in case you couldn’t catch 
it. Now, the last word we have is unproven.  

Now this means we don’t have the results, we 
don’t know that it works. Let’s listen again.

Uh, there may be one more 
of those, you know, plasma  

or um, hyper immune globulin 
is still unproven and–

Still unproven, we still haven’t tested, 
we still don’t know that those therapies  

could work to help cure or alleviate the 
symptoms of covid-19. Let’s keep going.

Uh, that looks like it’ll be a fairly slow track.

Slow track. It will take time to test and prove 
that these therapeutics could potentially help. So  

it’s not something we’re going to know 
soon or quickly. Let’s listen again

Uh, that looks like it’ll be a fairly slow track.

Let’s keep going.

And so the, the most exciting 
thing, uh, that for many months–

Again that pronunciation of months 
as months, months, let’s listen.

And so the, the most exciting 
thing, uh, that for many months–

Many months. Let’s keep going.

That for many months, our 
foundation, others have been  

working on and talking about 
are these monoclonal antibodies.

A foundation is an institution that’s 
funded by donations, in this case,  

Bill Gates' money, and also 
maybe other donors and the  

foundation works to give money to other 
organizations that help with education,  

maybe environmental issues, or health care, or 
whatever, this kind of thing, and Bill Gates  

has the Gates foundation that has done a lot of 
work in things like vaccines. Let’s listen again.

Our foundation, others have been working on and 
talking about, are these monoclonal antibodies.

Let’s keep going.

Mr. Gates continues to explain 
the drug possibilities.

There are several companies, Eli Lilly,  

Regeneron, are going to be two of the first, 
later, AstraZeneca and Vir, and so the supply  

will go up. The early data looks quite good. 
Uh, you know, we saw uh in the lilly data that  

uh over 60% of the people who got it early, uh, 
there was a reduction in the number that that  

needed to be hospitalized. Now as we get to larger 
numbers, our confidence in that, uh, will go up.

The supply. The amount of the drug will go 
up as more people are making it. The supply.

There are several companies, Eli Lilly, 
Regeneron, are going to be two of the first,  

later, AstraZeneca and Vir, 
and so the supply will go up.

Let’s keep going.

The early data looks quite good.

The early data. The facts that we know from 
the research that has been done into these  

drugs. Data is actually one of the words 
that we learned recently in our academic  

word list vocabulary videos, so check that out,  

you can see the playlist here for all 
those academic word list vocabulary words.

Now ‘early data’ means in the early phase of 
testing, they haven’t done a ton of research,  

but they have some data back, that’s their 
early data, so they’re making some conclusions  

based on what they know now, even though the 
research isn’t complete. Let’s listen again.

The early data looks quite good.

And let’s keep going.

Uh in the Lilly data, that over 60 
percent of the people who got it early,  

there was a 60% reduction in the number 
that that needed to be hospitalized.  

Now as we get to larger numbers, 
our confidence in that will go up.

Confidence in, trust in something, belief that 
it will work. So before he said something,  

they had some early data, that had promised, 
so a little bit of research had been done,  

the results looked good. Now he’s 
saying as they do even more research,  

they’ll have even more confidence, this is 
going to be something that can help people.

Now for the whole interview, you can see the 
link in the video description. It was quite long,  

and so I only took a little bit of it to learn 
with here. What do you think? Will we see a  

vaccine for the coronavirus in the next few 
months? Let me know in the comments below.

Now we’ll look at all the clips of 
the interview that we’ve studied,  

still with that on-screen text 
to reinforce what you’ve learned.

The coronavirus death toll in the United States 
is now more than 212,000 people in this country,  

total number of cases more than seven and a 
half million. Staggering numbers of course.  

There’s precious little sign of things slowing 
down. Add to that, President Trump’s diagnosis,  

the high infection numbers, the white house, 
the overall lag in widespread testing, contact  

tracing, it’s certainly a recipe for concern 
as the fall begins in the winter, Bill Gates is  

joining us he’s co-chair of the Bill and Melinda 
Gates foundation, has long put his fortune  

and talent behind searching for cures for this 
global health crisis and for other global health  

crisis. He joins me now, Bill, thanks for being 
with us. Looking at where the US is right now in  

this pandemic, and during the fall in the winter, 
cases on the rise, not just in small clusters, but  

across most of the nation, how concerned 
are you about the months ahead?

Well I’m very concerned. Uh 
the forecast showed that the  

deaths are going to go back up, almost to the 
level they were in the spring. And you know,  

it’s people are going to be indoors more, uh, the 
compliance with the distancing and the mask use is  

going down in many areas, that never got super 
good in some areas, and so except for the  

innovative tools, that I’m sure we’ll talk about, 
this is going to be a very difficult fall because  

people, you know, the economic 
effects, the uh, tiredness,  

the kids not being able to go to school, 
this continuation is a very difficult thing.

You’ve talked about the, some of the sophisticated 
tools, the therapeutics that uh that are coming,  

and that some, some are here can you just talk a 
little bit, I mean, let’s talk about uh Regeneron,  

you’ve been optimistic about about it. It got 
obviously a big endorsement from President Trump,  

because he was able to to receive 
it, he’s calling it a cure. Uh,  

he’s calling on regulators to give 
an emergency use authorization,  

do you support the idea of the emergency use 
authorization? And I assume uh it’s not a cure.

No, the, well, the word cure 
uh is a bit of an over promise,  

you know. That makes it sound it looks like 
works for everyone, and the whole concern about  

this disease should go away, and that’s 
the last thing we want people think about.

The monoclonal antibodies, which is what 
Regeneron is, that’s always been the most  

promising therapeutic category. The other 
therapeutic categories, the antivirals,  

like Remdesphere has only had modest benefit, 
there may be one more of those, you know plasma  

or hyperimmune globulin is still unproven, and 
that looks like it’ll be a fairly slow track.

And so the the most exciting thing, uh, 
that for many months, our foundation,  

others have been uh working on and talking 
about are these monoclonal antibodies.  

There are several companies, Eli Lilly, 
Regeneron, are going to be two of the first,  

later, AstraZeneca and Vir, 
and so the supply will go up.

The early data looks quite good. You 
know, we saw in the lily data that  

over 60 percent of the people who got it early, 
there was a 60% reduction in the number that  

that needed to be hospitalized. Now as we get to 
larger numbers, our confidence in that will go up.

There was a lot to learn there, and Mr. Anderson  

really does speak quickly, 
did anyone else notice that?

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That’s it guys, and thanks so 
much for using Rachel’s English.