Butte County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Bernstein sat down with Action News Now

Butte County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Bernstein sat down with Action News Now to discuss the pandemic and himself.

Health officer.

In his second day on the job dr. richard bernstein sat down with action news nows vanessa romo to talk about his past experience and his thoughts on the pandemic.

Meet doctor robert bernstein& butte county public health's new health officer& dr. bernstein comes to us from tuolumne county where he served as the health officer for two years.

My hope is that as the health officer i can work with stakeholders and partners to ensure the safety and health to all of butte county.

I am especially concerned about what will take place when a demonstrably, safe and effective covid-19 vaccine becomes available.

Bernstein has experience working with the world health organization andthe centers for disease control.

So we asked him his thoughts on how butte county is handling the pandemic.

V: as far as you can tell, is butte county testing enough& b: as far as i can tell and dr. fauci and others at the cdc, and state of california, we can all say that we're not testing enough but the problem is logistical, the problem is that the test facilities and the accessibility of the test is just not as great as we would like to have it& dr. bernstein also notes that testing on essential workers, people who are ill and people who are in contact with the above get priority testing, & as for his thoughts ona covid-19 vaccine& there are not several hundred vaccine candidates being tested the nih is supporting the testing of candidates& but it is unlikely that a safe and effective vaccine, in my opinion will be available before the early part of next year& at the earliest.

Dr. bernstein graduated from penn, got his doctorate in bio- chem from penn state and graduated from the university of connecticut medical school... in chico vanessa romo action news now.

Dr. bernstein says he is fluent in indonesian and malaysian.

He says it's important to be able to communicate, be transparent and accurate during this time.

Decades