EPIDEMIC with Dr. Celine Gounder

EPIDEMIC with Dr. Celine Gounder

KFF Health News and JUST HUMAN PRODUCTIONS

Eradicating Smallpox: The Heroes that Wiped out a 3,000-Year-Old Virus One of humanity’s greatest triumphs is the eradication of smallpox. This new eight-episode docuseries, “Eradicating Smallpox,” explores this remarkable feat and uncovers striking parallels and contrasts to recent history in the shadows of the covid-19 pandemic. Host Céline Gounder brings decades of experience working on HIV in Brazil and South Africa, Ebola during the outbreak in New Guinea, and covid-19 in New York City at the height of the pandemic. She travels to India and Bangladesh to bring never-before-heard stories from the front lines of the battle to wipe sm...

BONUS / WORLD Channel Presents: Silence in Sikeston

BONUS / WORLD Channel Presents: Silence in Sikeston

In 1942, Cleo Wright was removed from a Sikeston, Missouri, jail and lynched by a mob. Nearly 80 years later, Denzel Taylor was killed by police in the same community. The deaths of these two Black fathers tell a story about the public health consequences of racism and systemic bias. Meet residents determined to live healthier lives after generations of community silence. “Silence in Sikeston” is the podcast about finding the words to say the things that go unsaid. This is an invitation. Perhaps

Dec 9, 2024 • 26:28

S2E8 / The Scars of Smallpox

S2E8 / The Scars of Smallpox

In 1975, smallpox eradication workers in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, rushed to a village in the south of the country called Kuralia. They were abuzz and the journey was urgent because they thought they just might be going to document the very last case of variola major, a deadly strain of the virus. When they arrived, they met a toddler, Rahima Banu.She did have smallpox, and five years later, in 1980, when the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated, Banu became a symbol of

Nov 7, 2023 • 16:13

S2E7 / What Good Is a Vaccine When There Is No Rice?

S2E7 / What Good Is a Vaccine When There Is No Rice?

The 1970s was the deadliest decade in the “entire history of Bangladesh,” said environmental historian Iftekhar Iqbal. A deadly cyclone, a bloody liberation war, and famine triggered waves of migration. As people moved throughout the country, smallpox spread with them.In Episode 7 of “Eradicating Smallpox,” Shohrab, a man who was displaced by the 1970 Bhola cyclone, shares his story. After fleeing the storm, he and his family settled in a makeshift community in Dhaka known as the Bhola basti. Sm

Oct 24, 2023 • 18:58

S2E6 / Bodies Remember What Was Done to Them

S2E6 / Bodies Remember What Was Done to Them

Global fears of overpopulation in the ’60s and ’70s helped fuel India’s campaign to slow population growth. Health workers tasked to encourage family planning were dispatched throughout the country and millions of people were sterilized: some voluntarily, some for a monetary reward, and some through force. This violent and coercive campaign — and the distrust it created — was a backdrop for the smallpox eradication campaign happening simultaneously in India. When smallpox eradication worker Chan

Oct 10, 2023 • 20:32

S2E5 / The Tata Way

S2E5 / The Tata Way

In spring 1974, over a dozen smallpox outbreaks sprang up throughout the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Determined to find the source of the cases, American smallpox eradication worker Larry Brilliant and a local partner, Zaffar Hussain, launched an investigation.The answer: Each outbreak could be traced back to Tatanagar, a city run by one of India’s largest corporations, the Tata Group.When Brilliant arrived at the Tatanagar Railway Station, he was horrified by what he saw: people with active

Sep 26, 2023 • 24:27

Live Web Event: Thinking Big in Public Health, Inspired by the End of Smallpox

Live Web Event: Thinking Big in Public Health, Inspired by the End of Smallpox

At noon ET on Thursday Sept. 14, Epidemic host Céline Gounder and her guests will come together for a live web event. Click here to register for the event.In Conversation With Host Céline Gounder:Helene D. Gayle, a physician and an epidemiologist, is president of Spelman College. She is a board member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and past director of the foundation’s program on HIV, tuberculosis, and reproductive health. She spent two decades with the Centers for Disease Control and Pr

Sep 12, 2023 • 0:48

S2E4 / Speedboat Epidemiology

S2E4 / Speedboat Epidemiology

Shahidul Haq Khan, a Bangladeshi health worker, and Tim Miner, an American with the World Health Organization, worked together on a smallpox eradication team in Bangladesh in the early 1970s. The team was based on a hospital ship and traveled by speedboat to track down cases of smallpox from Barishal to Faridpur to Patuakhali. Every person who agreed to get the smallpox vaccination was a potential outbreak averted, so the team was determined to vaccinate as many people as possible.The duo leaned

Aug 29, 2023 • 21:32

S2E3 / Zero Pox!

S2E3 / Zero Pox!

In 1973, Bhakti Dastane arrived in Bihar, India, to join the smallpox eradication campaign. She was a year out of medical school and had never cared for anyone with the virus. She believed she was offering something miraculous, saving people from a deadly disease. But some locals did not see it that way.Episode 3 of “Eradicating Smallpox” explores what happened when public health workers — driven by the motto “zero pox!” — encountered hesitation. These anti-smallpox warriors wanted to achieve 10

Aug 15, 2023 • 18:43

S2E2 / Do You Know Dutta?

S2E2 / Do You Know Dutta?

By the mid-1970s, India’s smallpox eradication campaign had been grinding for over a decade. But the virus was still spreading beyond control. It was time to take a new, more targeted approach.This strategy was called “search and containment.” Teams of eradication workers visited communities across India to track down active cases of smallpox. Whenever they found a case, health workers would isolate the infected person, then vaccinate anyone that individual might have come in contact with.Search

Aug 1, 2023 • 24:03

S2E1 / The Goddess of Smallpox

S2E1 / The Goddess of Smallpox

In the mid-’60s, the national campaign to eradicate smallpox in India was underway, but the virus was still widespread throughout the country. At the time, Dinesh Bhadani was a small boy living in Gaya, a city in the state of Bihar. In his community many people believed smallpox was divine, sent by the Hindu goddess Shitala Mata. In Bihar people had misgivings about accepting the vaccine because, Bhadani says, they did not want to interfere with the will of the goddess. Others hesitated because

Jul 18, 2023 • 22:34

Trailer: Epidemic Season 2 — Eradicating Smallpox

Trailer: Epidemic Season 2 — Eradicating Smallpox

"Eradicating Smallpox” is a journey to South Asia, the site of the last days of variola major smallpox. Many epidemiologists and global health leaders thought that ending smallpox was impossible. They were wrong. Dedicated public health workers made it happen.“Eradicating Smallpox” is an eight-episode, limited series amplifying their voices.Host Céline Gounder, a physician and epidemiologist, traveled to India and Bangladesh, and her field recordings anchor the season. Each episode mines the sma

Jul 6, 2023 • 1:57

Trailer: American Diagnosis Season 4 — Rezilience

Trailer: American Diagnosis Season 4 — Rezilience

In the years leading up to the pandemic, Dr. Celine Gounder, the host of the EPIDEMIC and American Diagnosis podcasts, had the opportunity to care for patients part-time at several Indian Health Service facilities around the United States. Working on the “rez,” one theme came up over and over: resilience.In this latest season of American Diagnosis, we’re going to share stories of Indigenous people who are taking action to protect the health and wellbeing of their communities in the face of incre

Dec 20, 2021 • 3:30

S1E80 / Vaccine Joy / Andy Slavitt & Celine Gounder

S1E80 / Vaccine Joy / Andy Slavitt & Celine Gounder

"It's a really interesting question: how do we get closure in this pandemic?  I think a lot of people have hurt and loss that's not been acknowledged. I think acknowledging that loss is very important." - Andy SlavittIn this final episode of season 1 of EPIDEMIC, we look back on the coronavirus pandemic and how we can move forward with one of our first guests, Andy Slavitt, who was President Biden’s Senior Advisor on COVID-19. Then we hear from you, our listeners, about how the vaccine has chang

Jun 24, 2021 • 31:59

S1E79 / Women’s Health: Fertile Ground for COVID Myths / Andrea Edlow, Stephanie Gaw, Alice Lu-Culligan, Leena Mithal, Steve Stecklow

S1E79 / Women’s Health: Fertile Ground for COVID Myths / Andrea Edlow, Stephanie Gaw, Alice Lu-Culligan, Leena Mithal, Steve Stecklow

"Pregnant women who have SARS-CoV-2 are more likely to be admitted to the ICU, to need a ventilator  and are more likely to die than women of the same age who are not pregnant. Pregnancy definitely makes getting COVID-19 much more dangerous." -Andrea EdlowSome of the most persistent myths about coronavirus and the vaccines developed to fight it have to do with women's health. In this episode, we'll hear about the latest science when it comes to topics like COVID and a woman's fertility, breastfe

Jun 17, 2021 • 23:13

S1E78 / Caregiving as Infrastructure / Stephanie Coontz, Julie Morita, Erika Moritsugu, Sarah Murphy

S1E78 / Caregiving as Infrastructure / Stephanie Coontz, Julie Morita, Erika Moritsugu, Sarah Murphy

"The pandemic has given us an opportunity to finally change this and if we don't, the economic impact from the fallout of women in the workforce is going to be devastating." -Erika MoritsuguThe pandemic has upended caregiving and what it means to be a working mom. More than 2 million women have left the workforce because of the cost and effort of caring for children and older family members during the pandemic. In this episode of EPIDEMIC, we’ll hear why the United States is the only wealthy nat

Jun 10, 2021 • 24:00

S1E77 / Vaccination Verification: Ticket to Ride or Social Divide? / Albert Fox Cahn, Lawrence Gostin, Fatima Hassan, JP Pollak

S1E77 / Vaccination Verification: Ticket to Ride or Social Divide? / Albert Fox Cahn, Lawrence Gostin, Fatima Hassan, JP Pollak

"When you're building a system like a vaccine passport you're potentially excluding millions of people because they don't have this thing that once was optional, but has now become indispensable." -Albert Fox CahnHow do you let people who are fully vaccinated get back to normal life without creating super-spreader events for those who haven’t yet been vaccinated? Some are calling for vaccine certification programs that could hopefully re-open large parts of the economy safely while we still work

Jun 3, 2021 • 24:09

S1E76 / Vaccinating the World Part II: You Can’t Fight Scarcity with Scarcity / John Nkengasong, James Krellenstein, Chelsea Clinton, Peter Hotez

S1E76 / Vaccinating the World Part II: You Can’t Fight Scarcity with Scarcity / John Nkengasong, James Krellenstein, Chelsea Clinton, Peter Hotez

"You can't fight scarcity with scarcity. The only way out of the vaccine problem is by making a lot more of it." -James KrellensteinIndia is the world's largest supplier of vaccines but the government there suspended the export of all COVID-19 vaccines after a devastating outbreak this spring. This is just the latest reason why global health leaders are calling for a new, decentralized approach to vaccine manufacturing around the world. In this week’s episode we’ll look at the challenge facing d

May 27, 2021 • 24:11

S1E75 / Vaccinating the World Part I: The Problem with Patents / Chris Morten, Prithi Krishtel, Rohit Malpani

S1E75 / Vaccinating the World Part I: The Problem with Patents / Chris Morten, Prithi Krishtel, Rohit Malpani

"It's a triumph of science and engineering that we now have multiple effective COVID vaccines. We just need to find the political will to invest a bit more money and deploy them around the world." -Chris MortenPresident Joe Biden said the United States would be the world's "arsenal of vaccines" but critics say current plans to donate 80 million doses around the world are not enough. Instead, countries like India and South Africa are calling for a waiver on vaccine patents so they can make their

May 20, 2021 • 26:22

S1E74 / Techno-Racism & COVID at Home & Abroad / Mutale Nkonde, Corin Faife, Heidi Larson, Imran Ahmed

S1E74 / Techno-Racism & COVID at Home & Abroad / Mutale Nkonde, Corin Faife, Heidi Larson, Imran Ahmed

"They benefit from traffic no matter if it's good information or malignant misinformation. " -Imran AhmedDuring the pandemic, disinformation campaigns have been targeting people of color with lies like African Americans can't get COVID or denying the pandemic is even real. In this episode, we’re going to hear more about how these disinformation networks are gaming social media algorithms. We'll hear how the United States has become a hub for disinformation exported around the world, and what leg

May 13, 2021 • 23:38

S1E73 /  Getting on the Right Side of Conservatives and Vaccines / Former Governor Chris Christie & Brian Castrucci

S1E73 / Getting on the Right Side of Conservatives and Vaccines / Former Governor Chris Christie & Brian Castrucci

"What we really need to be doing is not belittle people. Don't wag your finger at them. Don't make them feel stupid or small for not having gotten the vaccine yet. Talk to them about why it's safe." - Gov. Chris ChristieConservatives have emerged as the group least likely to say they’ll get vaccinated. Getting more conservative Americans comfortable with the vaccines will be needed to control the pandemic as national vaccination rates have started to slow and new variants spread across the Unite

May 6, 2021 • 22:32

S1E72 / A World Wide Web of COVID Conspiracies / Graham Brookie, Devin Burghart, Bret Schafer, Judy Twigg

S1E72 / A World Wide Web of COVID Conspiracies / Graham Brookie, Devin Burghart, Bret Schafer, Judy Twigg

"Disinformation is a deliberate falsehood put out to mislead an audience. But what we see more of are true bits of information where necessary context has been removed or manipulated in a way that makes it technically true but wildly misleading." -Bret Schafer In this episode of EPIDEMIC, we’re going to look at disinformation during the pandemic. Specifically, we’re going to look at how the Russian government and far-right militias are using vaccine disinformation to push their agendas. We’ll lo

Apr 29, 2021 • 21:08

S1E71 / Is SARS-CoV-2 Here to Stay? / Jennie Lavine, Angela Rasmussen, Jeffrey Shaman

S1E71 / Is SARS-CoV-2 Here to Stay? / Jennie Lavine, Angela Rasmussen, Jeffrey Shaman

"I don't think that herd immunity is a possibility for SARS CoV-2. I think there's going to be a different kind of equilibrium that we reach in the future where humans and SARS-CoV-2 co-exist in a much milder, more benign way." -Jennie LavineThe end of the pandemic might not mean the end of SARS-CoV-2. In fact, many scientists think COVID is here to stay, even with vaccines.  In this episode we'll hear why we may never reach herd immunity, how the coronavirus could change over time, and why kids

Apr 22, 2021 • 20:48

S1E70 / Country In-Roads: Building Vaccine Confidence in Rural America / Elizabeth Ellis, Dana Friend, Anna Loge, Chris Martin

S1E70 / Country In-Roads: Building Vaccine Confidence in Rural America / Elizabeth Ellis, Dana Friend, Anna Loge, Chris Martin

"The messaging that we've done in West Virginia is, look, we are leading the country, and that has really given people a sense that we can dispel a lot of negative stereotypes. We can be a world leader in a positive way." -Chris MartinRural America's vaccine rollout has bucked expectations. A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that four in 10 rural Americans reported getting at least their first dose of vaccine. That’s compared to three in 10 in urban and suburban areas. In th

Apr 15, 2021 • 22:31

S1E69 / With Us, For Us — Black Healthcare Workers Speak Out About Vaccine Safety / Jessica Anne Mitchell Aiwuyor, Rhea Boyd, Sandra Lindsay, Tierra Rich

S1E69 / With Us, For Us — Black Healthcare Workers Speak Out About Vaccine Safety / Jessica Anne Mitchell Aiwuyor, Rhea Boyd, Sandra Lindsay, Tierra Rich

"This virus does not discriminate. The vaccine is what is going to help to get us out of this crisis and stop the depth and the harm and the pain, which is what we're suffering two to three times more than our white counterparts." -Sandra Lindsay Reports show that Black Americans are less likely to get vaccinated than the general population but Black healthcare workers are taking on the mission to inform and  hopefully convince more people of color to get vaccinated. We’ll hear where this outrea

Apr 8, 2021 • 23:34

S1E68 / Medical Racism Past and Present / Vanessa Northington Gamble, Harriet Washington, Rueben Warren

S1E68 / Medical Racism Past and Present / Vanessa Northington Gamble, Harriet Washington, Rueben Warren

"We have to have a conversation where we take people's fears seriously and try to figure out what is going on there." -Vanessa GambleBlack Americans are  twice as likely to die from COVID as white Americans. Despite this, polls show that African-Americans are less interested in receiving the vaccine than other groups. But for people of color who do want the vaccine, inequities in U.S. healthcare are making access to vaccines more difficult. To get a fuller picture of the African American experie

Apr 1, 2021 • 24:36

S1E67 / Past Is Prologue: Epidemics & Anti-Asian Xenophobia / Toby Chow, Merlin Chowkwanyun, David Randall

S1E67 / Past Is Prologue: Epidemics & Anti-Asian Xenophobia / Toby Chow, Merlin Chowkwanyun, David Randall

"I think a lot of people don't understand how fearful Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans are in this moment" -Toby ChowOn March 16, a gunman in Atlanta killed eight people. Six of them were women of Asian descent. During the last 12 months, anti-Asian hate crimes were up 150% in the United States but the coronavirus pandemic is not the first time people of Asian descent have been stigmatized because of a disease. In this episode, we’ll look back at what happened in San Francisco during

Mar 25, 2021 • 20:51

S1E66 / Brazil’s P.1 Variant — the Limits of Natural Herd Immunity / Felipe Naveca & Ester Sabino

S1E66 / Brazil’s P.1 Variant — the Limits of Natural Herd Immunity / Felipe Naveca & Ester Sabino

"This is an invisible war and if we don't use our weapons we are not going to win it." -Ester SabinoIn the fall of 2020, the Brazilian city of Manaus had the highest SARS CoV-2 infection rate in the world — possibly as high as 75 percent. Some speculated that with rates of infection this high, there would not be enough people left for the virus to infect. Had the city reached so-called natural herd immunity? For a few months cases started to drop but this winter things got worse than ever. We’ll

Mar 18, 2021 • 18:58

S1E65 / Vaccines and Motherly Love / Heather Simpson, Elena Conis, Rebecca Onion, Jonathan Berman

S1E65 / Vaccines and Motherly Love / Heather Simpson, Elena Conis, Rebecca Onion, Jonathan Berman

"We easily have never had  as high a level of vaccination acceptance as we have now but we've asked a lot more of the public. The resistance that we see today is a response, in part, to that compounded request over time." - Elena ConisThe vast majority of Americans accept vaccines but concerns about the effect vaccines could theoretically have on kids have been some of the oldest and most resilient drivers of vaccine mistrust. At this recording, the COVID vaccines authorized for emergency use ha

Mar 11, 2021 • 25:16

S1E64 / The Origins of Vaccine Hesitancy / Jonathan Berman, Nadja Durbach and Michael Willrich

S1E64 / The Origins of Vaccine Hesitancy / Jonathan Berman, Nadja Durbach and Michael Willrich

"Every generation has generated its own anti-vaccinationism based on very similar concerns." -Jonathan BermanVaccines are a safe and critical public health tool. They prevent crippling childhood diseases like polio. They’re responsible for the eradication of one of the deadliest diseases ever — smallpox — and, today, they’re one of the most important measures we have to end the coronavirus pandemic. But despite these achievements people have been worried about vaccines for as long as they’ve exi

Mar 4, 2021 • 23:56

S1E63 / Chasing the Cure / David Fajgenbaum

S1E63 / Chasing the Cure / David Fajgenbaum

"When we think about a virus we don't think as much about the immune response to the virus but it is just so, so critical." -David FajgenbaumWhere do treatments come from when there's a new disease like COVID-19? The vast majority of drugs prescribed to treat COVID during the pandemic are actually old drugs. Some of the most effective have been around for as much as 70 years. In this episode of EPIDEMIC, we’re going to hear how David Fajgenbaum's quest for a treatment for his rare disease is hel

Feb 25, 2021 • 22:37

S1E62 / South Africa’s B.1.351 Variant — Immunity-Evading / Salim Abdool Karim, Richard Lessells, Jinal Bhiman, Allison Greaney

S1E62 / South Africa’s B.1.351 Variant — Immunity-Evading / Salim Abdool Karim, Richard Lessells, Jinal Bhiman, Allison Greaney

"It just shows how difficult it is to be reactive with this virus. By the time you've detected something and understood the significance of it you're already several steps behind the virus." -Richard LessellsThis is the second in our series on variants of concern. Our previous episode looked at the UK variant, and today we’re looking at the variant that emerged in South Africa: 501Y.V2. This variant is not only more transmissible, but has demonstrated the troubling ability to evade the body's im

Feb 18, 2021 • 23:21

S1E61 / The UK’s B.1.1.7 Variant — More Contagious and Virulent / Andrew Hayward, Trevor Bedford, Gard Nelson, Graham Medley

S1E61 / The UK’s B.1.1.7 Variant — More Contagious and Virulent / Andrew Hayward, Trevor Bedford, Gard Nelson, Graham Medley

"I had been assuming that my life and everyone else's life would get closer to normal in March. This [variant] has me worried that it won't be March, that we'll have a spring wave and I don't know how big that will be."  -Trevor BedfordThis winter a new, more contagious variant of SARS-CoV-2 arose in the United Kingdom: B.1.1.7. The CDC estimates that this will become the dominant strain of coronavirus in the United States by March. This is the first of several episodes on the science and policy

Feb 11, 2021 • 20:28

S1E60 / On the Hunt for the Next Pandemic Virus / Tony Goldberg, Adam Bailey, Jennifer Gardy, Sagan Friant

S1E60 / On the Hunt for the Next Pandemic Virus / Tony Goldberg, Adam Bailey, Jennifer Gardy, Sagan Friant

"When we interact with nature there are  unpredictable and weird mechanisms by which pathogens might be able to move between the species." -Tony GoldbergThere’s a lot we don’t know about the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus but there is a consensus that it came from animals. This is called zoonosis. HIV, Zika, and Ebola were all viruses in animals before jumping to humans. This is a serious problem. Most new or emerging infectious diseases are the result of zoonotic transmission and we’re seeing m

Feb 4, 2021 • 25:45

S1E59 / A Perfect Storm for Depression – Deaths of Despair Pt II / Anne Case & Roy Perlis

S1E59 / A Perfect Storm for Depression – Deaths of Despair Pt II / Anne Case & Roy Perlis

"This is not like a lot of the other disasters that people have studied. It looks a lot more like what you'd expect to see in people who have lived through a war. " -Roy PerlisThis is the second in our two-part series about deaths of despair during the pandemic. We speak with experts and review the latest data on how the pandemic is affecting rates of depression, anxiety, and even suicide in the United States. We’ll look back at what was driving these deaths before the pandemic, how the pandemic

Jan 28, 2021 • 23:41

S1E58 / An Overdose Epidemic – Deaths of Despair Pt I / Sandra Lindie, Will Cooke, Jennifer Fecu

S1E58 / An Overdose Epidemic – Deaths of Despair Pt I / Sandra Lindie, Will Cooke, Jennifer Fecu

"When the pandemic hit, many of our recovery groups went online but that's really not the same. All that great work we had been building momentum towards came to a screeching halt." -Will CookeOverdoses have spiked during the pandemic. One of the reasons is a breakdown in the community support so critical to keeping people off drugs. Social distancing measures and quarantine have created deadly complications for people recovering from addiction. In this episode we'll hear two stories, one from N

Jan 21, 2021 • 21:49

S1E57 / Disrupting Restaurants Part II / Amanda Cohen, Saru Jayarmanan, Pete Ternes

S1E57 / Disrupting Restaurants Part II / Amanda Cohen, Saru Jayarmanan, Pete Ternes

"It's my responsibility as an owner to figure out how to afford to pay everyone an ethical, fair, livable wage but we have to start from the premise of paying them an ethical, livable wage" -Pete TernesWe’re revisiting restaurants as part of our series on industries disrupted by the pandemic. In this episode we speak with restaurateurs and a labor activist about how the pandemic is reshaping how some think about tips and the minimum wage.  We'll see why tipping so is problematic, why it's so har

Jan 14, 2021 • 24:11

S1E56 / Flattening the Infodemic Curve / Claire Wardle, John Cook, Renee DiResta

S1E56 / Flattening the Infodemic Curve / Claire Wardle, John Cook, Renee DiResta

Transcript"That's the challenge with infodemics: too much information and not knowing who to trust." - Claire WardleCombating misinformation has become more important than ever during the pandemic. The novel coronavirus,  social media, and a polarized political environment created something public health experts have dubbed an "infodemic" — a flood of misleading information and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and the public response to it. In this episode of EPIDEMIC, we'll hear how mi

Jan 8, 2021 • 22:16

S1E55 / Mask Up / Linsey Marr, Kim Prather, Delphine Wallis

S1E55 / Mask Up / Linsey Marr, Kim Prather, Delphine Wallis

Transcript"Masks are absolutely essential because you can't always control when someone gets too close to you. You can't control the ventilation in every room that you go into. The thing you control the most, that you have one hundred percent control over, is that mask." - Kimberly PratherAs the death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 300,000 in the United States this week, wearing a mask has never been more important. In this episode, Kimberly Prather and Linsey Marr explain the latest science on ho

Dec 18, 2020 • 18:42

S1E54 / A Smarter Way to Quarantine / Roxanne Khamsi & Jeffrey Townsend

S1E54 / A Smarter Way to Quarantine / Roxanne Khamsi & Jeffrey Townsend

Transcript"If you're going to be traveling, if you're going to be in a situation where you might be exposed to others or where you can protect others by quarantining yourself, right now is the time to do it and to do it carefully because this is when it can be especially effective" -Jeffrey TownsendQuarantines are an effective way to stop the spread of the coronavirus but they have been one of the most difficult and confusing parts of the pandemic. New research shows how people exposed to the co

Dec 11, 2020 • 18:04

S1E53 / The Vaccines are Coming / Kizzmekia Corbett, Sree Chaguturu, Julie Rosenberg

S1E53 / The Vaccines are Coming / Kizzmekia Corbett, Sree Chaguturu, Julie Rosenberg

Transcript"This, quite frankly, is our generation's Manhattan project" -Sree ChaguturuThis has been a big week for vaccines. There are two vaccines under review by the FDA and the United Kingdom has become the first country to authorize Pfizer's mRNA vaccine. In this episode, we'll talk about the science behind mRNA vaccines, and discuss the physical and mental logistics needed to get these revolutionary vaccines to the public. This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered an

Dec 4, 2020 • 23:32

S1E52 / Love and Care in a Pandemic / Jon Gunnell & Robert Cialdini

S1E52 / Love and Care in a Pandemic / Jon Gunnell & Robert Cialdini

Transcript"I was watching the nurses and the doctors and everyone in the healthcare industry just going through this trauma... It was just like people needed help and I had a chance to help." -Jon GunnellThanksgiving is right around the corner but new daily cases of coronavirus are worse than ever. In this episode, we'll hear some tips for how to stay safe this holiday season. We'll also hear the story of a nurse who decided to move across the country to help New York City in the early days of t

Nov 20, 2020 • 23:33

S1E51 / Disrupting Restaurants / David Henkes, Kirk Vartan, Tunde Wey

S1E51 / Disrupting Restaurants / David Henkes, Kirk Vartan, Tunde Wey

Transcript"Food is not going to solve the world's problems because food is itself a part of the problem, but food is an opportunity to begin thinking about it." - Tunde WeyWhen airlines and other big industries were getting federal aid at the start of the pandemic, chef and artist Tunde Wey argued that the restaurant industry — his own industry — wasn’t worth saving. In this episode, we’ll hear what Tunde thinks is so wrong about how restaurants operate, what the pandemic has done to the industr

Nov 13, 2020 • 25:12

S1E50 / The Post-Pandemic College Experience / Scott Galloway & Michael D. Smith

S1E50 / The Post-Pandemic College Experience / Scott Galloway & Michael D. Smith

Transcript"There's this toxic cocktail of low endowment per student, high tuition, low experience, low certification... Those universities could be out of business in a year." - Scott GallowayCoronavirus concerns forced many universities to close their campuses this fall. The mix of fewer students on campus, canceled athletics, and online courses is threatening the viability of many traditional colleges and universities. But the pandemic is also creating opportunities to re-imagine what higher e

Nov 6, 2020 • 21:40

S1E49 / Lessons from the Zombie Apocalypse / Coltan Scrivner, David Schnieder, Robert Wonser

S1E49 / Lessons from the Zombie Apocalypse / Coltan Scrivner, David Schnieder, Robert Wonser

Transcript"We have this long history of seeking personal and individual solutions to public problems and I think the zombie films highlight that." - Robert WonserFrom Night of the Living Dead, to 28 Days Later, and World War Z, pandemics have always been at the heart of zombie movies. In this Halloween edition of Epidemic, we find out what these films get right and wrong about the current coronavirus pandemic, what they can teach us about epidemiology, and how fans of horror movies are experienc

Oct 30, 2020 • 22:59

S1E48 / A False Promise: Herd Immunity and Herd Mentality / Mark Pagel & Tom Frieden

S1E48 / A False Promise: Herd Immunity and Herd Mentality / Mark Pagel & Tom Frieden

Transcript"I would put this in very plain English: The way to protect the vulnerable is to have fewer infections, not more infections." - Dr. Tom FriedenTalk of achieving herd immunity without a vaccine is back in the news, despite the consensus among public health experts that this approach would cost hundreds of thousands of American lives. Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden talks about his recent op-ed against this approach and the "one-two punch" to get the pandemic under control.Then, evol

Oct 23, 2020 • 25:46

S1E47 / A Very Important Patient / Art Caplan, George Annas, Joel Goldstein

S1E47 / A Very Important Patient / Art Caplan, George Annas, Joel Goldstein

Transcript“What could be more political [than] the determination of whether the president can fulfill the powers and duties of his office.” —Prof. George AnnasEarlier this month, President Trump announced that he was COVID-positive and was hospitalized for treatment. Since then, a flurry of questions has been raised about his health, and his ability to lead moving forward. Though COVID is new, this is not the first time a president has been seriously ill while serving in office. On today’s episo

Oct 16, 2020 • 24:24

S1E46 / Vote Like Your Health Depends on It / Alister Martin, Betsy Hoover, Ralph Noyes

S1E46 / Vote Like Your Health Depends on It / Alister Martin, Betsy Hoover, Ralph Noyes

Transcript"Healthcare is political. There's a difference between politics and partisanship. Thinking about healthcare as not being political I think is where many doctors and unfortunately our healthcare system stand to lose the most." —Dr. Alister MartinCOVID has made voting a public health issue this year. In this episode, we'll hear how nursing-home workers, doctors, and entrepreneurs are working to get out the vote in the middle of a pandemic.This podcast was created by Just Human Production

Oct 9, 2020 • 22:52

S1E45 / In for the Long-haul / Diana Berrent, Eli Musser, Marcus Tomoff, Marjorie Roberts

S1E45 / In for the Long-haul / Diana Berrent, Eli Musser, Marcus Tomoff, Marjorie Roberts

Transcript“It's not like the straight trajectory towards recovery… It very feels very much like a one step forward, two steps back. People referred to it as the Corona coaster, because you don't know where it's going to take you next” —Diana BerrentCOVID “long-haulers” are people who have extended experiences with COVID symptoms that never let up, or keep recurring. The virus is so new that we do not have a clear picture of what each person’s experience with the disease will be like. In today’s

Oct 2, 2020 • 24:40

S1E44 / Science & Public Health Under Attack / Gary Kasparov, Lori Freeman, Theresa Anselmo

S1E44 / Science & Public Health Under Attack / Gary Kasparov, Lori Freeman, Theresa Anselmo

Transcript“Public health is one of the few agencies locally that you can guarantee is apolitical. They just care about protecting the health of the community. … But these measures and these tactics by health officers are seen as political and an attempt to limit people's rights.” —Lori Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health OfficialsPublic health experts have faced strong backlash for supporting decisions to close businesses and to enforce lockdowns and social distanc

Sep 25, 2020 • 22:54

S1E43 / What Sports Can Teach Us About Mass Testing / Michael Mina, Rohan Nadkarni, Stephanie Apstein

S1E43 / What Sports Can Teach Us About Mass Testing / Michael Mina, Rohan Nadkarni, Stephanie Apstein

Transcript“I think it's a fascinating microcosm of the situation we’re in as a country. I do think the plan has also may be shown a way that the pandemic needs to be attacked on a larger scale, which is what can be done when testing is plentiful and accessible; what can be done when people are taking mask-wearing seriously; what can be done when people are social distancing, seriously, what can we do when people are quarantining seriously?” —Rohan NadkarniWhat would mass testing for COVID look l

Sep 18, 2020 • 20:58

S1E42 / One on One with Tony Fauci

S1E42 / One on One with Tony Fauci

Transcript“Right now … we are in the middle of it, [a] very politicized situation… a lot of divisiveness in our country. So when you try to get a public health message out, unfortunately, it becomes so political that there are those who are in favor of what you want to do from a public health standpoint and those who oppose it to the point of almost as if you were doing something to hurt them.” —Dr. Anthony FauciDr. Anthony Fauci — Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis

Sep 11, 2020 • 20:55

S1E41 / Back to Campus / Allison Slater-Tate, Amy Gorin, Eleanor Daugherty, Rochelle Walensky

S1E41 / Back to Campus / Allison Slater-Tate, Amy Gorin, Eleanor Daugherty, Rochelle Walensky

Transcript“If we want to bring students back to college, we have to redefine what college is for the short term… and so we need to think about it with more innovation and depth of thought if we would if we were just applying crisis management models.” —Eleanor Daugherty, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at the University of ConnecticutThe college experience will look very different for many students gearing up to re-enter schools in the fall. How can colleges pre

Aug 4, 2020 • 23:08

S1E40 / Back to School / Arne Duncan, Allison Slater Tate, Stephanie Gounder

S1E40 / Back to School / Arne Duncan, Allison Slater Tate, Stephanie Gounder

Transcript“The goal is not to reopen schools; it’s to keep schools open. And if we reopen too fast, just as we reopened States too fast, you saw what happened. States had to shut down and schools would have to shut down. And that for me would be just a travesty. You re-traumatize children and further endanger… their parents and teachers and bus drivers and custodians.” - Arne Duncan, former US Secretary of EducationNormally at this time of year, students would be gearing up for the back-to-schoo

Jul 31, 2020 • 22:59

S1E39 / Invisible Women / Ai-jen Poo, Susie Rivera, Glewna Joseph

S1E39 / Invisible Women / Ai-jen Poo, Susie Rivera, Glewna Joseph

Transcript“Now that we see them, my hope is that our field of vision about who is working, and just how valuable they are, continues to widen. And that is it's not only about awareness and clapping for them at seven o'clock at night, but we're actively taking action and demanding that they be protected. Demanding that they be compensated. Demanding that they are able to keep their themselves and their families safe, crisis, or no crisis. “ - Ai-jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers

Jul 28, 2020 • 22:31

S1E38 / Shoe-Leather Epidemiology / Jay Varma, Kimberly Joceyln, Maryama Diaw

S1E38 / Shoe-Leather Epidemiology / Jay Varma, Kimberly Joceyln, Maryama Diaw

Transcript“I literally love my job… and being able to wake up and the end of the day and also say … I possibly helped save a life.” — Kimberly JocelynContact tracers like Kimberly are an integral part of New York City’s plan to reopen safely. If someone tests positive for COVID, contact tracers make it possible to determine which network of people may have been exposed to the virus. But, contact tracers are also tasked with the delicate job of informing someone of their possible exposure. On tod

Jul 24, 2020 • 21:36

S1E37 / Seeking Sanctuary / Julie Levey, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, Pastor Jamal Bryant

S1E37 / Seeking Sanctuary / Julie Levey, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, Pastor Jamal Bryant

Transcript“I don't have any plans on returning in the immediate future. I don't want history to record that COVID grew in America because of irresponsible religious groups… I want to make sure that we are good stewards of health and responsibility.” - Dr. Jamal BryantCOVID has closed down many religious spaces, profoundly impacting faith communities. Many rituals have been disrupted, and social distancing guidelines are preventing people from gathering. In today’s episode, we hear from Rabbi Ell

Jul 21, 2020 • 27:00

S1E36 / Alone Together / Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Lucy Flamm, Jeff Howe, Jackie Jones

S1E36 / Alone Together / Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Lucy Flamm, Jeff Howe, Jackie Jones

Transcript“Loneliness is something we hear a lot from individuals in our community. It's a time of physical distancing. And at first, this was really articulated as social distancing. And I think that's a problem. Yes, we are physically disconnected, but that doesn't mean that we're socially disconnected.” — Lucy FlammSince COVID swept through the world, shelter in place and social distancing measures have kept us physically apart from our friends, families, and communities. Loneliness and isola

Jul 17, 2020 • 20:03

S1E35 / What’s Essential Health Care in a Pandemic? / Cecile Richards & Kersha Diebel

S1E35 / What’s Essential Health Care in a Pandemic? / Cecile Richards & Kersha Diebel

Transcript"...the pandemic has simply highlighted for some people that hypocrisy, where politicians use so-called medical reasons, protecting women's health, as an excuse for what are really political goals, which is to end access to safe and legal abortion writ large." -Cecile RichardsThe COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on women's’ access to abortion services and reproductive health. In some states, abortion was categorized as elective surgery, and procedures were suspended. In today

Jul 14, 2020 • 21:12

S1E34 / Hands-On / Nicola Corl, Shannon Adams, Latia Curtis

S1E34 / Hands-On / Nicola Corl, Shannon Adams, Latia Curtis

Transcript“They say, you need to keep a minimum of six feet distance between people, but we're usually within 10 inches of our clients for the entire time that they are in the salon. The biggest risk is when you're in extended or prolonged, rather contact with somebody and the CDC defines that as more than 15 minutes. I don't know if you've ever had a haircut that took less than 15 minutes, but generally speaking, we cannot social distance from our clients.” - Nicola CorlWith the economy re-open

Jul 10, 2020 • 22:22

S1E33 / The Privilege of Immunity / Kathryn Olivarius, Juanita Mora, Esha Bhandari

S1E33 / The Privilege of Immunity / Kathryn Olivarius, Juanita Mora, Esha Bhandari

Transcript“An immunity passport system would create a two-tier system because it would divide all of us into those who are immune to COVID-19 and those who are not. And the people who are immune will get all of the benefits and privileges that come with that while everybody else who's not immune will be in a second class status.” - Esha BhandariHow do we balance the reopening of the economy with public health and safety? Some have proposed an “immune passport” system, where those with proven COV

Jul 7, 2020 • 21:52

S1E32 / Epidemics Change History / Josh Loomis & Frank Snowden

S1E32 / Epidemics Change History / Josh Loomis & Frank Snowden

Transcript“Just like cholera exposed the weaknesses in European society, COVID is doing the same for us. ...The bubonic plague and cholera for example were devastating pandemics, but they also lead to the creation of modern public health and sanitation. There’s still a chance for COVID to have its own silver linings, even if we can’t see them right now.” -Dr. Celine GounderPandemics have played a huge role in human history. The Black Death had huge implications for economics, politics, medicine,

Jun 30, 2020 • 26:22

S1E31 / A Patchwork Pandemic / Ed Yong & Howard Koh

S1E31 / A Patchwork Pandemic / Ed Yong & Howard Koh

Transcript“We all believe that we need a national plan in the face of a national emergency, a United response for the United States… We're all in these parts of the same country. You can't control the pandemic without some degree of coordination.” - Ed YongWhat kind of coordinated national response is required for a national health crisis like COVID-19? Today on "Epidemic," Dr. Celine Gounder speaks with Dr. Howard Koh, Professor of Public Health Leadership at the Harvard School of Public Health

Jun 26, 2020 • 25:32

S1E30 / A Second Wave? / Howard Markel

S1E30 / A Second Wave? / Howard Markel

Transcript“So when will it come back? You know, I'm a historian, so I'm uncomfortable with predicting the future, but as a doctor, if I were making a prognosis, I would say it's going to come back.” — Dr. Howard Markel“It does get weary when you see the same mistakes being made over and over and over again. And many of the mistakes of past pandemics are being made today, particularly in how we're administering and reacting to it.“ — Dr. Howard MarkelWith states gradually starting to re-open, man

Jun 19, 2020 • 26:00

S1E29 / A Magic Bullet? Monoclonal Antibodies / James Crowe

S1E29 / A Magic Bullet? Monoclonal Antibodies / James Crowe

Transcript"In our case, we're trying to transfer an antibody from one person to another. And it's actually a simpler idea because the recipient of an antibody RNA does not have to really respond to it. They just make it, and they have instant immunity." -Dr. James CroweIn today’s episode, our host Dr. Celine Gounder speaks with Dr. James Crowe, Director of the Vaccine Center at Vanderbilt Medical Center, about the next phase in antibody-based therapies, which is being spearheaded by Dr. Crowe’s

Jun 16, 2020 • 29:03

S1E28 / The Political Psychology of Pandemics / Michele Gelfand & Howard Lavine

S1E28 / The Political Psychology of Pandemics / Michele Gelfand & Howard Lavine

Transcript"In the United States, we have a relatively low threat history. We're separated by two oceans from other continents. We haven't been afraid of Canada, Mexico, chronically invading us. We haven't been afraid of constant fury from mother nature. And so, as a result, we have a harder time tightening up than other countries under these conditions because it's hard for people to sacrifice the kind of liberty and freedom that we've had for constraints and rules.” - Michele GelfandIn today’s

Jun 12, 2020 • 33:52

S1E27 / Convalescent Plasma / Arturo Casadevall & Michael Busch

S1E27 / Convalescent Plasma / Arturo Casadevall & Michael Busch

Transcript“With penicillin, for example, you needed a few days to begin to get better. With antibodies, these people got better within hours, almost as if the antibody was mediating an antitoxin effect.” - Arturo CasadevallIn today’s episode, our host Dr. Celine Gounder speaks with Arturo Casadevall, Chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, about convalescent plasma, the transfer of antibodies from a disease survivor

Jun 9, 2020 • 27:47

S1E26 / Indigenous Peoples / Rebecca Nagle, Melissa Begay, Jamescita Peshlakai

S1E26 / Indigenous Peoples / Rebecca Nagle, Melissa Begay, Jamescita Peshlakai

Transcript“I think there's always sort of like Indian humor with everything and so there were a lot of people making jokes about Trump putting a travel ban in place to stop the spread of disease from Europe. A lot of native people on Twitter and Facebook were commenting that it was, you know, a few centuries too late." -Rebecca NagleIn this episode, our host Dr. Celine Gounder speaks to Rebecca Nagle, Dr. Melissa Begay, and Jamescita Peshlakai about why the Navajo Nation has been so hard hit by

Jun 5, 2020 • 30:00

S1E25 / A COVID Vaccine / Seth Berkeley & Peter Hotez

S1E25 / A COVID Vaccine / Seth Berkeley & Peter Hotez

Transcript“Terrible diseases like smallpox, polio, yellow fever where, you know, the capital in the United States in those days, Philadelphia, in the 1700s, 10% of the population died. When you vaccinate against them, you prevent them, and they no longer are problems.” - Seth BerkleyIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak with Seth Berkley and Dr. Peter Hotez about a topic that has received a lot of attention lately-- vaccines. They discuss the processes involved in d

Jun 3, 2020 • 32:34

S1E24 / Is the CDC MIA? / Jim Curran & Mark Rosenberg

S1E24 / Is the CDC MIA? / Jim Curran & Mark Rosenberg

Transcript"I think there are some people who are afraid that the truth will hurt the economy. That if we let CDC speak the truth, that will hurt stock prices, that will hurt people's jobs and the manufacturing sector. But even when the truth may hurt, even when it's painful, we've got to know the truth. And right now, people are taking steps to keep CDC from speaking the truth.” -Dr. Mark RosenbergIn this episode, our co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak to former CDC scientists Dr. M

May 29, 2020 • 30:35

S1E23 / Our Immune System versus the Virus / Stanley Perlman & Jon Yewdell

S1E23 / Our Immune System versus the Virus / Stanley Perlman & Jon Yewdell

Transcript“Antibodies are the easiest part of the immune system to measure. It's not the only part that's required for protection against this virus.” - Stanley PerlmanIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain continue their discussion of the immune system. They speak with Stanley Perlman and Dr. Jon Yewdell about what happens when a virus enters the body and the different types of cells involved in each stage of the immune response against the virus. They talk about what is

May 26, 2020 • 20:41

S1E22 / A False Choice: The Economy versus Public Health / Rashad Robinson, Alicia Garza, Marshall Ganz

S1E22 / A False Choice: The Economy versus Public Health / Rashad Robinson, Alicia Garza, Marshall Ganz

Transcript“Every night... we are literally cheering and clapping and beeping our horns for people that in many ways we're unwilling to fight for so that they could have $15 an hour. We call people essential workers now who we treated for so long, like anything but essential.” -Rashad RobinsonIn this episode, our co-host, Dr. Celine Gounder speaks to Rashad Robinson, Alicia Garza, and Marshall Ganz about essential workers such as caregivers, domestic workers, and agricultural workers. They discus

May 22, 2020 • 22:31

S1E21 / Are Antibodies the Holy Grail? / Kaitlyn Sadtler & Matt Memoli

S1E21 / Are Antibodies the Holy Grail? / Kaitlyn Sadtler & Matt Memoli

Transcript“A lot of people don't realize this, but there are other cold-inducing coronaviruses that give us the common cold that we've all had in our lives, and some of those coronaviruses can give you antibodies that would give a positive test on some SARS-CoV-2, COVID tests.” – Dr. Matt MemoliIn this episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain discuss the science of the immune response and the role antibodies can play in how the immune system responds to an infection. They talk with Kai

May 19, 2020 • 25:14

S1E20 / Not Business as Usual / Geoff Baird & Céline Gounder

S1E20 / Not Business as Usual / Geoff Baird & Céline Gounder

Transcript"Still, like 90% of our patients are COVID patients. This is still not normal.” -Dr. Celine GounderIn this episode, our co-host, Dr. Celine Gounder, shares how her experience treating patients at Bellevue Hospital in New York City is different in early May 2020 than it was March and April.In addition, Dr. Gounder and co-host Ron Klain speak with Dr. Geoffrey Baird at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle on why his hospital was way head of the rest of the country i

May 15, 2020 • 32:27

S1E19 / A Return to Sports, a Return to “Normal” Life? / Peter King, Rohan Nadkarni, Grant Wahl

S1E19 / A Return to Sports, a Return to “Normal” Life? / Peter King, Rohan Nadkarni, Grant Wahl

Transcript"I can't stress this enough. Rudy Gobert testing positive was the best thing that happened for the NBA. It arguably, in many ways, is the best thing that happened for this country. I don't think people were taking this seriously, Celine, until they found out an entity like the NBA could suspend its season because of the coronavirus.” -Rohan NadkarniIn this episode, our co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak to Rohan Nadkarni, Grant Wahl, and Peter King and look at the pandemic

May 12, 2020 • 25:21

S1E18 / Without Shelter in a Storm / Rosanne Haggerty, Jake Maguire, Cindy Funkhouser

S1E18 / Without Shelter in a Storm / Rosanne Haggerty, Jake Maguire, Cindy Funkhouser

Transcript“It's scary for everybody, but imagine yourself being someone that can't socially isolate, that has no home, that doesn't have a TV and doesn't know what's going on. And all of a sudden, everyone has disappeared.” -Cindy Funkhouser, CEO Sulzbacher CenterIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak with three advocates working to end homelessness. Rosanne Haggerty is the founder of Community Solutions in New York, and Jack Maguire the co-director of the Built for

May 12, 2020 • 15:52

S1E17 / Getting Prepared / John Lynch, Syra Madad, Reid Wilson

S1E17 / Getting Prepared / John Lynch, Syra Madad, Reid Wilson

Transcript“We want to make sure everybody's prepared because we know COVID 19 is just one epidemic that we're currently facing. There's going to be another one in the pipeline, and we need to make sure that we're investing today for tomorrow.” - Syra MadadIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak with Syra Madad, Senior Director of the Special Pathogens Program, New York City Health and Hospitals. Syra shares her experience preparing for a potential disease outbreak lik

May 5, 2020 • 20:47

S1E16 / Good and Bad Bosses / Adam Grant, William Kassler, Katie McGrath

S1E16 / Good and Bad Bosses / Adam Grant, William Kassler, Katie McGrath

Transcript“We’re not working from home because we want to. Many of us are working from home because we have to. We are all thrust into this social distancing as a result of the pandemic, and in a very short time, we’ve had to adapt to some very unusual circumstances.” - Dr. William Kassler, Chief Medical Officer, IBMIn this episode, Dr. Celine Gounder talks to Adam Grant, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss work during a pandemic and which companies

May 1, 2020 • 27:59

S1E15 / Health Coverage in a Pandemic / Donald Berwick & Karen Pollitz

S1E15 / Health Coverage in a Pandemic / Donald Berwick & Karen Pollitz

Transcript“COVID-19 is the great revealer. It’s showing every crack and fault in the healthcare coverage system.” - Dr. Donald BerwickIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak with Dr. Donald Berwick, former administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and senior fellow for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, about how COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities of the U.S. healthcare system to a public health crisis. They also discuss how the Aff

Apr 28, 2020 • 38:35

BONUS / Speaking Truth to COVID / Stacey Abrams

BONUS / Speaking Truth to COVID / Stacey Abrams

Transcript“We are not ready to put at risk the lives of those who are going to be on the front lines. And let’s be clear, we’re talking about populations that are likely to be people of color... and likely to be women. These are low-wage workers who do not have the luxury of refusing to return to work. If they refuse the call of their employers, because we live in a right-to-work state, they are subject to termination. This means that people are literally being told to either come back to work,

Apr 25, 2020 • 28:45

S1E14 / Disability Shouldn’t Be A Liability / Maggie Hassan & Rebecca Cokley

S1E14 / Disability Shouldn’t Be A Liability / Maggie Hassan & Rebecca Cokley

Transcript"Resources that we've been using as reasonable accommodations are now being taken up by the rest of society due to shelter in place policies, and obviously this is something that's really important to do.” -Rebecca CokleyIn today’s episode, co-hosts Ron Klain and Dr. Celine Gounder speak with Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire. Senator Hassan discusses her work in the Senate as the senior Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight and Emergency Management of the Homeland Secu

Apr 24, 2020 • 27:20

S1E13 / A Black Plague / Helene Gayle & Aletha Maybank

S1E13 / A Black Plague / Helene Gayle & Aletha Maybank

Transcript“As a nation, we've got to put in place a public health system that includes disease preparedness, so that we're ready for whatever is the next shock. And that all of us, no matter who we are, what social-economic status, what race, ethnicity, what job we have, that we don't have to go through this again. It's in our hands. We can do it. And it is within our reach to be able to end these sorts of unacceptable wealth and health disparities.” - Dr. Helene GayleIn today’s episode, co-host

Apr 21, 2020 • 21:50

S1E12 / Covid and Punishment / Homer Venters, Norman Ornstein, Steven Leifman

S1E12 / Covid and Punishment / Homer Venters, Norman Ornstein, Steven Leifman

Transcript“There’s no social distancing in the prisons, almost no protective gear for anybody, and if you also have a serious mental illness… you can’t expect them to take any of the precautions that include keeping away from other people. And you can’t expect them to take care of themselves when they can’t do it for their larger illnesses. If we look at those who are most vulnerable to getting the virus, or spreading the virus, it’s more likely to be those who are most vulnerable in our populat

Apr 17, 2020 • 23:37

S1E11 / Surviving COVID / David Lat

S1E11 / Surviving COVID / David Lat

Transcript"The other point I made about ventilators is, they're not a panacea. Many patients don't survive them, but I don't think that reduces their importance. I think, if anything, the fact that many patients don't survive means we need to make sure that as many patients as could benefit from them actually get them. I hope that one thing we get out of this crisis is enough of a supply so that, if and when we have a future pandemic like this, we are ready." –David Lat, COVID-19 survivorIn toda

Apr 14, 2020 • 28:50

S1E10 / Dr Tony Fauci: From One Pandemic to Another / Mark Harrington & Peter Staley

S1E10 / Dr Tony Fauci: From One Pandemic to Another / Mark Harrington & Peter Staley

Transcript“I mean, many of us spent the whole ‘80’s in a state of terror, knowing that we'd been exposed, not knowing our status, not knowing whether we were going to live or die. And I think the vast majority of the population now has exactly the same feeling, where they don't know if they've been exposed. They don't know if they're going to get sick. Every single person is a risk.” - Mark Harrington, Executive Director and co-founder of the Treatment Action GroupIn today’s episode, co-host Dr.

Apr 10, 2020 • 24:07

S1E9 / Did Anybody See This Coming? / Juliette Kayyem

S1E9 / Did Anybody See This Coming? / Juliette Kayyem

Transcript"It’s not an on/off switch. We are living with coronavirus until we get a vaccine, and that could be 18 months, if we’re lucky.” - Juliette KayyemIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain discuss what we could have seen coming with this pandemic and speak with Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the Homeland Security Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a security analyst at CNN, about the differences in approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic between pub

Apr 6, 2020 • 24:52

S1E8 / Unequal: Race, Status, and COVID-19 / Greg Asbed & Jeneen Interlandi

S1E8 / Unequal: Race, Status, and COVID-19 / Greg Asbed & Jeneen Interlandi

Transcript"People who don’t have access to medical care, people who don’t have access to the healthcare system in general, are going to be much more vulnerable. They are not going to be treated, they are going to get sick, they are more likely to die, and they are also more likely to spread the virus to other people.” -Jeneen InterlandiCo-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak with New York Times journalist and editorial board member, Jeneen Interlandi, a key member of the Times 1619 proje

Apr 3, 2020 • 32:04

S1E7 / The Destiny of Nations Depends on How They Feed Themselves / José Andres

S1E7 / The Destiny of Nations Depends on How They Feed Themselves / José Andres

Transcript“I think today we are going to be doing roughly 125,000 meals across America in very strategic places. Restaurants transforming to Community Kitchens are going to be playing a vital role in every neighborhood of America to provide basic food relief for people in need. And obviously, if you can, you pay, but if you cannot pay, that's fine. No questions asked.” – Chef Jose AndresHow do you feed people during a crisis? Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain talk to Chef Jose Andres, who has fed

Mar 31, 2020 • 26:42

S1E6 / We All Count: Civil Rights & Coronavirus / Vanita Gupta & Michael Macagnone

S1E6 / We All Count: Civil Rights & Coronavirus / Vanita Gupta & Michael Macagnone

Transcript“The nation is confronting this kind of social distancing and quarantine for the first time in the modern era, and it isn't clear to me that the laws in place are going to be sufficient. We haven't had enough protections. We don't have paid sick leave, a lot of companies are not giving time off to low wage workers in a way that makes them feel secure...And so this is a problem because not all communities are equally protected right now.” – Vanita GuptaIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. C

Mar 27, 2020 • 29:35

S1E5 / On the Frontlines and in People’s Minds / Adam Grant

S1E5 / On the Frontlines and in People’s Minds / Adam Grant

Transcript"I have to say it's really weird to be at Bellevue right now. On the one hand, it feels like a ghost town. Basically, the hospital has cleared out, largely devoting itself to coronavirus patients. It's eerily quiet except for pages overheard every hour or so for patients who are getting worse and need to be transferred to the ICU and put on a ventilator." -Co-host, Dr. Celine GounderIn this episode, Dr Celine Gounder opens by sharing observations from her day in service at Bellevue Hos

Mar 24, 2020 • 31:54

BONUS / A False Dichotomy: Airborne versus Droplet / Roxanne Khamsi and Lydia Bourouiba

BONUS / A False Dichotomy: Airborne versus Droplet / Roxanne Khamsi and Lydia Bourouiba

TranscriptOn March 14, 2020, Roxanne Khamsi published an article in Wired magazine: "They Say Coronavirus Isn't Airborne—but It's Definitely Borne By Air."In today's episode, Dr. Celine Gounder speaks with Roxanne and Dr. Lydia Bourouiba, an Associate Professor at MIT who directs the Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory. They speak about the difference between airborne and droplet, and what that means for the safety of healthcare workers and the precautions that individuals should b

Mar 20, 2020 • 39:31

BONUS / Running Out of Time / Michael Donnelly

BONUS / Running Out of Time / Michael Donnelly

TranscriptMichael Donnelly is a professional data scientist, policy researcher, and economist. He joined us to discuss epidemiological modeling of the #SARSCoV2 #COVID19 #coronavirus epidemic in the U.S. His conclusion: we're running out of time.You can read Michael's Medium posts here:https://medium.com/@donnellymjd/no-good-options-dda04260b232https://medium.com/@donnellymjd/covid-19-new-york-will-be-the-next-italy-but-doesnt-have-to-be-54a5c8137d42https://medium.com/@donnellymjd/covid-19-nyc-s

Mar 20, 2020 • 33:03

S1E4 / Our Health System’s in Trouble / Andy Salvitt & Dan Diamond

S1E4 / Our Health System’s in Trouble / Andy Salvitt & Dan Diamond

Transcript“I think as we get testing capability out, and we get the ability to treat the population, we can't forget that there's many people that don't have the choice to self-isolate. They have to go to work every day because they get paid by the hour, and we have to do our best to keep them healthy.” - Andy SlavittIn today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain speak with Dan Diamond, a health journalist for Politico in Washington. They discuss what the coronavirus relief bill c

Mar 20, 2020 • 34:34

S1E3 / Flatten the Curve / Craig Spencer & Helen Branswell

S1E3 / Flatten the Curve / Craig Spencer & Helen Branswell

Transcript“The goal is to try to keep as many people from being infected for as long as possible to try to effectively stretch this thing out so that the hospitals are dealing with fewer cases.” - Helen Branswell In today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain discuss the concept of flattening the curve and what impact this can have on healthcare workers and hospitals. They speak with Helen Branswell, a leading infectious disease reporter at STAT. Helen speaks about what other coun

Mar 13, 2020 • 33:40

S1E2 / The Test Kit Debacle / Tom Frieden

S1E2 / The Test Kit Debacle / Tom Frieden

TranscriptOur special guest this week is Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and former commissioner of the New York City Health Department. As head of the CDC during the Ebola epidemic in 2014, he played a critical role in the CDC’s unprecedented and heroic deployment of personnel to West Africa and was President Obama’s top public health advisor. Dr. Frieden is currently the President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a global non-profit

Mar 5, 2020 • 32:58

S1E1 / Do We Need a Coronavirus Czar? / Céline Gounder, Ron Klain

S1E1 / Do We Need a Coronavirus Czar? / Céline Gounder, Ron Klain

Transcript“We cannot build a wall, a real wall, or a metaphorical wall to keep this disease out. We have to understand it's coming. It's here already. It's going to come to a greater extent and we need to be preparing to deal with that.” -Ron KlainIn today’s episode, our co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain discuss whether the U.S. should be appointing a coronavirus czar to oversee and coordinate the national response to COVID-19. They share thoughts on the U.S. response so far, including t

Feb 28, 2020 • 32:15

Trailer

Trailer

EPIDEMIC is a new, weekly podcast on the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19). Hear from some of the world’s leading infectious disease and public health experts. We’ll help you understand the latest science, the bigger context, and bring you diverse angles—from history and anthropology to politics and economics—depth and texture you won’t get elsewhere.Hosted by Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist who has worked on tuberculosis and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, a

Feb 27, 2020 • 2:23

Switch to the Fountain App