It was just a week ago that we heard about the omicron variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus. A week later, we still don’t know much about how transmissible or whether omicron can cause serious illness.

Even without the new variant, the number of Covid cases in Pennsylvania is high. Tuesday’s case count of more than 7,600 is one of the largest in the past few weeks and doctors are warning winter weather driving people indoors and holiday get togethers could mean more infections.

Those are a few of the reasons there still are many questions about the virus and vaccines.

Throughout the pandemic, Smart Talk has featured medical professionals to answer Covid questions.

On Thursday’s program, we’re joined by Dr. John Goldman, an infectious disease specialist at UPMC in Central Pennsylvania.