COVIDCalls

What are the long term effects of disaster on society? What were the lessons of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and to what extent were they heeded?  Dr. Kathleen Tierney , Professor Emerita of Sociology and former director of the Natural Hazard Center at University of Colorado-Boulder, discusses how her long career in disaster research informs her view of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a wide ranging discu...

How will COVID-19 shape the way the American government operates? Where were the points of governmental failure when it came to the American policy response to COVID and how can the U.S. adjust its policy and politics to deal with future hazards better? Dr. Rob DeLeo , an associate professor of public policy and global studies at Bentley University, Dr. Thomas Birkland , a professor of public poli...

How does COVID-19 overlap and intertwine with the deeper histories of Louisiana, and how can we understand these connections? What effect will COVID-19 have on long-term efforts for racial and environmental justice in Louisiana? Karen Gadbois , the co-founder of The Lens , Dr. Andy Horowitz , an assistant professor of History at Tulane University, and Dr. Beverly Wright , an environmental justice...

How are the racial injustice of slavery and environmental injustice of petrochemical plants compounding to impact the health effects of COVID-19 in southern Lousiana? How are communities, especially communities of color, responding to a high COVID death rate amidst the continuing legacies of racial and environmental injustice? Dr. Joy Banner , the Director of Media and Marketing at Whitney Plantat...

What level of risk will we choose to accept and how do we come to accept it? Is that choice rational or irrational? How do organizations plan for worst case scenarios and to what extent are those plans works of fiction? Dr. Lee Clarke , a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, discusses his research on risk, organizations, disaster plans, and elite panic in connection with COVID-19. Dr. Lee...

What is the future of COVID-19 memory? Will there be a memorial to remember the lives lost and honor the heroes during the COVID-19 Pandemic? What would memorials to COVID-19 look like, and what role will the politics of the pandemic play in them? Dr. Jay Aronson , professor of science, technology, and society in the department of history and founder for the Center of Human Rights Science at Carne...

How can we effectively communicate about the risk of compound disasters during the continuing pandemic as the United States also enters hurricane, storm, and wildfire season? What is the state of the pandemic in Philadelphia? Dr. Esther Chernak , professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, rejoins to update listeners on the state of COVID-19 cases, testing capacity, mitigation meas...

What can history teach us that prepares us for COVID 19? What are the issues with asking historians to provide us with concrete advice from imperfect and incomplete historical examples? Julia Engelschalt , a doctoral candidate in history at Bielefeld University, and Dr. Jacob Remes , a professor of history at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and Director of the Initiat...

How does the backlash against Asian Americans, especially those of Chinese descent, during COVID-19 parallel backlashes against other minority groups that followed events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina? What is the role of researchers during disaster events like COVID-19? Dr. Lori Peek , professor of sociology and Director of the Natural Hazard Center at University of Colorado-Boulder, discusses...

What role do the police have in public health crises? How have crime patterns shifted in the wake of shelter-in place orders? What is the state of the pandemic from the point of view of emergency managers in early April 2020? Dr. Samantha Montano , assistant professor in Emergency Management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy (formerly University of Nebraska-Omaha), rejoins to discuss the lack of a...

What are the social factors that shape people’s understanding of disaster? What ties communities together and helps them remain strong, cope, and recover? What are the data that help us understand how people support each other during crisis? Dr. Daniel P. Aldrich , full professor of political science and Director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University and Dr. Rob...

How is the disaster of COVID-19 impacting how early career disaster researchers are approaching their own research? How will academia in general react to the crisis and how will that affect graduate students and early career researchers? Dr. Nnenia Campbell , a research associate at the Natural Hazards Center of University of Colorado-Boulder, Dr. Ryan Hagen , a postdoctoral scholar in Sociology a...

Part Two: What accounts for the starkly different pictures of the pandemic in various nations and what can we learn from the example of South Korea? How was South Korea able to respond and, as of April 2, 2021, report only 174 deaths due to COVID-19? Dr. Seung-sik Hwang , a professor of epidemiology at Seoul National University, and Dr. Chihyung Jeon , an associate professor and department head at...

Part One:  With the 2020 presidential primary season underway in the United States, how might the pandemic affect the presidential election later in the year and the longer trajectory of American politics? Dr. Julian Zelizer , a professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University and CNN contributor, discusses the politics of COVID-19 during a presidential election year in the United S...

How is ageism influencing debates over whether or not to “re-open” the nation amidst rising infections and economic fall out? What does caring for the elderly during the pandemic look like during the early pandemic? How is COVID-19 affecting how and what we communicate with those closest to us? Bernadette McBride , a registered nurse practitioner specializing in geriatric family practice and owner...

How has global pandemic preparedness evolved over the years, and what is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) role in managing outbreaks of infectious disease? What were the impacts of 9/11, anthrax, and Hurricane Katrina on American systems of emergency preparedness? Dr. Andrew Lakoff , a professor of sociology at University of South California, an expert on globalization, the history of the hum...

Does rural America have the infrastructure and supplies to navigate through this pandemic? Lois Parshley , a freelance investigative journalist then based at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and Dr. Peter Shulman , an associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University, discuss the challenges COVID-19 presents for rural communities and how the Defense Production Act can play a role i...

Is there such a thing as an unprecedented moment? What is new about the COVD-19 pandemic and what aspects have echoes in the past? What lessons do the histories of past epidemics, even those that occurred centuries ago, have to offer our present? Dr. Cindy Ermus , a history professor at University of Texas-San Antonio, and Dr. Christienna Fryar , a lecturer in Black British history at Goldsmiths U...

Why were tools of accessibility, like video conferencing and live transcription, only embraced by institutions in response to COVID-19, despite being denied to disabled people pre-pandemic? What can disability studies add to our understanding of COVID-19 and society’s response to the pandemic? Dr. Aimi Hamraie an assistant professor of Medicine, Health, & Society and American Studies at Vanderbilt...

What can the United States learn from Italy’s disaster management performance in the first wave, and what are the cracks that lie in Italy and the United States’ systems? What are the historical analogs we can use to understand various aspects of the pandemic? Dr. Giacomo Parrinello , an assistant professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and Dr. Luisa Cortesi , a Postdoctoral Fellow...

What is the timeline of the virus up to late March 2020, and what might the timeline to “normalcy” look like? What are the most promising treatments and what are their historical precedents? Adam Rogers , a science journalist at WIRED Magazine, discusses the science and possibilities of serological testing to improve understanding and surveillance of the virus. Rogers explains the potentials of tr...

What are the challenges for journalists to report accurate information when there is a disconnect between science and politics? How do news consumers become discerning about the information they trust in the internet age? Andrew Revkin , a path-breaking environmental journalist and founding director of the Initiative on Communication Innovation and Impact at Columbia University's Earth Institute,...

What are the various experiences of COVID-19 across the globe and what ways can we listen to this transnational community? How is COVID-19 interacting with Chilean politics, both past and present? How are Germany and the larger European Union coping with the uneven effects of the pandemic? Dr. Gonzalo Bacigalupe , a professor of counseling psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and...

What does it mean that COVID-19 was declared a disaster/emergency by multiple levels of government across the United States? How does the structure of emergency governance affect emergency managers responding to the pandemic? Dr. Samantha Montano , an assistant professor in Emergency Management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy (formerly University of Nebraska-Omaha), and Dr. Patrick S. Roberts ,...

When should have COVID-19 testing started in the United States and what were the barriers to testing access in the early days of the Pandemic? What did testing look like on the ground in Philadelphia, PA during this time? Dr. Esther Chernak , professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health and director of the Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication at Drexel University , di...