Scientific community fighting COVID with progress

We're also reflecting on that one year anniversary a little closer to home.

We want to look back at how the scientific community has approached this challenge -- both the triumphs and the setbacks.

Waay 31's will robinson-smith is live outside hudson alpha with the s.t.e.m.

Retrospective.

Will?

We've seen in the last year what a multi-faceted, humanitarian story covid turned out to be.

But important in that -- this was also the story of science working at an unprecedented level to tackle an unprecedented challenge.

Science will see us through.

Definitely.

That sense of optimism -- even as the country was getting used to seeing these virtual representations of sars-cov-2 and hearing the term "coronavirus" far more than we imagined -- was the foundation for those like dr. neil lamb from the get-go.

Dr. neil lamb, vice president for educational outreach, hudsonalpha i was thinking, this could be something that we'll have to tackle and that it's probably bigger than any of us expect.

But i had no idea that i would be having these conversations with you now a year later.

Hudsonalpha -- and the many companies within -- was at the heart of several scientic strides during this long pandemic year.

You saw companies suddenly rush to be able to offer testing and to collaborate.

You saw people building masks from in their garages with 3d printers.

You saw people begin to communicate information in ways that we hadn't communicated information before.

Certainly, there have been bumps along the way, but i think north alabama as a whole has done an incredible job.

But hindsight -- like much of the pandemic -- is 2020.

Dr. lamb says broader access to testing early on would've been a huge help in understanding the reach of the virus -- and surveillance testing now would be a great asset.

He also says because of the unknown impact of the variants -- the idea of reaching so- called 'herd immunity' shouldn't be our main goal.

'herd immunity' may be a bit of a moving target.

I think we need to not focus so much on reaching a certain percentage and really working on how we can try and tamp down the spread as much as possible.

Dr. lamb is optimistic about the impact the vaccines are having and the role they will continue to play in ending the pandemic.

He notes that tackling hestiency and ensuring equitable distribution will be challenging -- but he trusts that north alabama's s.t.e.m.

Community can help guide us to the light at the end of the tunnel.

We've said all along that we will science our way through the pandemic and we've seen that happen around the country, but we've certainly have seen that happen here in north alabama.

And it's breathtaking how much science and innovation, how far it has brought us in the last year.

Dr. lamb noted that north alabama has also lent a hand when it comes to developing therapeudics for covid-19.

They will help those who get sick in the future -- have a better chance of beating this virus.

Reporting live in huntsville -- will robinson-smith -- waay 31 news.