Public Health On Call

Poor health care, lacking infrastructure, and generational poverty combine to make Native Americans especially vulnerable to COVID-19. With previous infectious respiratory illnesses like H1N1, mortality rates were sometimes four to five times higher than US averages among tribal communities. Allison Barlow , director of the Center for American Indian Health, talks to Stephanie Desmon about COVID-1...

The COVID-19 dashboard run by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering has been a critical source of near real-time tracking of the spread of the novel coronavirus since it first emerged. Beth Blauer , executive director of Centers for Civic Impact and an expert on the public's use of data and analytics, is part of the team that manages the map. Blauer talks to Dr. Josh Sharfst...

Most new diseases originate from "spillover events" where humans come into contact with wild animals. Veterinarian and scientist Meghan Davis talks to Stephanie Desmon about the rise of infectious diseases and what is being done to prepare for future spillover events. She also covers how a tiger in the Bronx Zoo got a test, and the threats COVID-19 may pose to your own pets. Learn more: jhsph.edu/...

The historical context of 1918 shaped much of the response to the flu pandemic in the US—just it will with COVID-19. Dr. Paul Spiegel , director of the Center for Humanitarian Health, talks with historian and author John Barry about how an absence of credible leadership and messaging hindered response efforts then and what lessons we can apply today. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

What did we learn this week? Is there a connection between 5G cell phone towers and the novel coronavirus? How often should you wash a homemade cloth mask? Is there any truth behind using hydroxychloroquine as a treatment? Will people on ventilators have permanent lung damage? What's it like for doctors and nurses in the hospitals right now? Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health...

Development of a COVID-19 vaccine is an essential part of halting the pandemic. But will it be months or years before we see one? Vaccine expert Dr. William Moss talks to Stephanie Desmon about the complexities of vaccine development and manufacturing, potential hold ups, how opponents of vaccination may come into play, and why COVID-19 may threaten current immunization programs. Learn more: jhsph...

Fallout from COVID-19 goes beyond case counts—we are facing "an epidemic of isolation and loneliness," says Councilman Zeke Cohen . The Baltimore Neighbors Network is a virtual community of trained volunteers who are available to listen to city residents and provide resources for follow-up if needed. Councilman Cohen, Shantay Jackson , executive director of the Baltimore Community Mediation Center...

What will need to happen for businesses and schools to reopen, and what might the future look like with COVID-19? Former CDC director Tom Frieden talks to Stephanie Desmon about what governments and individuals should be doing right now to help curb the spread of the virus and move America closer to reopening. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

There have been varying responses to COVID-19 carried out across local, state, and federal governments in the US. But what powers does the government have at various levels in a pandemic and how does the law work when an enemy like COVID-19 "does not respect jurisdictional boundaries?" Law expert and Hopkins professor Dr. Lainie Rutkow talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about a range of legal issues, in...

Why was the US slow to stand up testing and is this improving? Should you wear a cloth mask in your daily activities? Jason Farley , an infectious disease-trained nurse epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, talks to Stephanie Desmon and breaks down the complications of testing for COVID-19 and why recommendations on the public's use of masks may be evolving. Learn more: jhsph.edu/...

Early on in the COVID-19 outbreak, Singapore quickly launched a robust response which included widespread testing, diligent contact tracing and quarantining, and isolation of all sick persons, even those with mild symptoms. Alumnus Dr. Vernon Lee , Director of Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health of Singapore, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how lessons from the 2003 SARS outbreak in...

Globally, more men are dying from COVID-19 than women. But is this due to sex (biological differences), gender (social and contextual differences), or something else entirely? Stephanie Desmon talks to virologist Sabra Klein and social scientist Rosemary Morgan about risk factors associated with COVID-19.

In 2014, Tolbert Nyenswah , then an assistant minister of health in Liberia, was tapped to lead the nation's response to the Ebola epidemic. Under his leadership, an Incident Management System deployed thousands of epidemiologists, case managers, and contact tracers in a technical response that brought the outbreak under control. Nyenswah talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what the US can learn fr...

Una entrevista entre Monica Guerrero Vazquez , una graduada de La Escuela De Salud Publica de Johns Hopkins y Dra. Kathleen Page del Hospital Johns Hopkins sobre el virus que está afectando al mundo, incluyendo lo que podemos hacer para protegernos.

What does a global pandemic mean for the world's drug supply chain? Howard Sklamberg , lawyer and former FDA deputy commissioner, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the threats that COVID-19 poses to medications for everything from cancer to diabetes to hypertension. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

The Center for Health Security is back with another round of expert answers to your most-asked COVID-19 questions. If we reopen everything back up, what is the risk that we'll have a new surge of infections? As China considers loosening restrictions, how are they making those decisions? Why aren't there human temperature monitors in public places like airports, hospitals, and grocery stores? Is an...

As public health experts stress the importance of hygiene and social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19, what does this mean for the 2.3 million people incarcerated in the U.S.? Johns Hopkins Infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Chris Beyrer talks to Stephanie Desmon about the difficulties of protecting people in these facilities, the low-risk/high-reward strategy of releasing those held o...

Caring for patients with COVID-19 requires a new playbook in many ways. Dr. Brian Garibaldi , a pulmonologist in the ICU at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the medical director of the biocontainment unit, talks to Stephanie Desmon about his observations of COVID-19 patients including new challenges, changes to protocols, and coping with fears about he and his colleagues getting sick themselves. Learn m...

Equal access to resources, care, and information is a substantial problem for at-risk groups such as older adults, ethnic minorities, or those with low incomes even in the best of times. In this pandemic, where it's critical to "flatten the curve" among all groups, these barriers cannot be ignored. Dr. Lisa Cooper , director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfste...

Like many, epidemiologist Keri Althoff and biostatistician Elizabeth Stuart are juggling different responsibilities and precautionary measures in the "new normal" of COVID-19. They talk to Stephanie Desmon not about their day jobs, but about play dates, community building while social distancing, ordering takeout, and how they're managing COVID-19 as parents, neighbors, and friends. Learn more: jh...

What does it take to stand up a makeshift hospital—and enough people to staff it—in order to address critically ill patients of COVID-19? Dr. Cyrus Shahpar , Director of Prevent Epidemics team at Resolve to Save Lives talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how to quickly scale up medical responses in a crisis. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

Dr. Bin Cao , vice president and director of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, has worked on the front lines of patient care in Wuhan for the past few months. By closely monitoring the disease, he and his team are beginning to unlock some of its secrets. Cao talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how the situation has changed in Wuhan, what we ca...

What do we know this week that we didn't know last week? What's the status of serologic testing and can it be useful in helping to end social distancing practices? How good is the current evidence on chloroquine? Should COVID-19 patients avoid taking ibuprofen? What happens next if we are successful with social distancing? If you are older but have no chronic illness, are you still at high risk? M...

COVID-19 is often compared to the 1918 flu pandemic that claimed millions of lives and caused massive social disruption. But to what extent is the novel coronavirus different and what lessons can we learn from the successes and failures of previous epidemics? Medical historians Jeremy Greene and Graham Mooney talk to Stephanie Desmon about this comparison, the history of quarantines, and what we w...

Dr. Judy Melinek is a forensic pathologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She explains the role of autopsies in the public health response to COVID-19 and how her work also plays a difficult but vital role in disposing of remains when health care systems become overloaded. Warning: This episode contains some graphic descriptions of autopsy procedures and bereavement that some listeners may find up...