FHC #196: Revisiting Thanksgiving 2020 at Covid’s peak

For this Thanksgiving week, we’re revisiting an important and emotionally charged episode from the first season of “Medicine: The Truth.” = When this episode debuted in 2020, the podcast was called “Coronavirus: The Truth,” which began when readers of Dr. Robert Pearl’s newsletter, “Monthly Musings on American Healthcare,” started asking for much-needed facts and context surrounding the pandemic.

It was a moment hard to fathom now. Covid cases were climbing fast, the nation was exhausted and vaccines weren’t yet available. Fear and frustration were everywhere. Five years later, with vaccines protecting all but the most vulnerable, it’s worth remembering just how uncertain and divisive the world felt heading into those holidays.

A big question people wanted answered was whether they should change their Thanksgiving plans. Dr. Anthony Fauci had urged Americans to avoid big gatherings. The reaction was immediate and intense. Polls showed three in four people were less excited about the holidays than the year before. Families were fighting over safety. Many felt hopeless and isolated. Against that backdrop, listeners asked the question weighing on millions: Should we gather at all?

In this rerun, Dr. Robert Pearl revisits the facts that mattered most at the time: why drug makers were pausing some vaccine and treatment trials, what was happening on college campuses and why premature births had unexpectedly declined during lockdowns. He explains why he expected 500,000 Covid deaths, a number that shocked listeners in 2020 but ultimately proved accurate (by half).

The episode also dives into deeper issues that shaped the national mood. Most of all, it captures the anger and divisiveness that blanketed the country. A tension that continues today.

There is much our nation can learn today from the experiences of five years ago. This Thanksgiving rerun offers a powerful reminder of where we were and how far we’ve come.

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Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of the new book “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine. All profits from the book go to Doctors Without Borders.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn

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