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Sean Carroll: The coronavirus pandemic is growing very, very quickly. He talks with Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent State University about the science behind it and what people can do to prevent infection. There are 212,799 known coronavirus cases that have been found around the world; 7,700 of them in the United States. It's a weird situation because not everyone dies, right? You can get the virus, not dying yet, spread it to someone else who might actually pass away because of it.

This is a special episode of Mindscape, thrown together quickly. Many thanks to Tara Smith for joining me on short notice. Tara is an epidemiologist, and a great person to talk to about the novel coronavirus (and its associated disease, COVID-19) pandemic currently threatening the world. We talk about what viruses are, how they spread, and a lot of the science behind virology and pandemics. We also take a practical turn, talking about what measures (washing hands, social distancing, self-isolation) are useful at combating the spread of the virus, and which (wearing masks) are probably not. Then we look to the future, to ask what the endgame here is; Tara suggests that the kind of drastic measure we are currently putting up with might last a long time indeed.

Tara Smith received her Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Toledo. She is currently Professor of Epidemiology at the Kent State University College of Public Health. She has researched and written extensively about diseases such as ebola and MRSA. She is an active science communicator, and writes regular columns for SELF magazine.

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