ernie: thank you very much for that. joining me is an expert in the field, dr. steven morris. thanks for being here. >> thank you. ernie: we heard all this information that you're familiar with. how much work is being done to protect us here in new york city in our area? >> in new york city, i think the health department is one of the most proactive in the country. after the west nile outbreak in 1999, became very concerned about infectious diseases carried by mosquitos. so there has been very active mosquito control efforts and other things to deal with infectious diseases and others. ernie: there's a lot of testing that goes on, which can get very complicated. how difficult is it really to predict the next pandemic? >> we have never predicted a pandemic. not even a flu pandemic. i think we're getting better at it. we have a better idea of what's out there. it took 50 years to get weather forecasting to the point where you can turn on the tv and feel that you have some idea what's happening. i think we'll get to that point eventually. we're not there yet. what we can do is be watchful, try to be anticipatory, ant