Science Vs

Did We Predict the Pandemic?

May 11, 2023

49:41

Episode guests

Anthony Fauci

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The podcast accurately predicted key elements of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the origin of the virus, overwhelmed medical staff, and the use of masks.

The episode highlights the importance of learning from past pandemics, the need for a universal flu vaccine, and the unpredictable nature of viral outbreaks.

Deep dives

The fictional pandemic scenario and its uncanny similarities

The podcast episode explores a fictional scenario of a deadly virus spreading globally, paralleling the real-life COVID-19 pandemic. It delves into the accuracy of their predictions and the alignment with actual events, such as the virus originating in China, overwhelming medical staff, the use of masks, and the concept of waves of disease. The mortality rate dropping from a high percentage to around 2% is also discussed, reflecting the evolving understanding of COVID-19 mortality rates. The episode highlights the need for better vaccines and the challenges in producing them, despite advances made with the COVID-19 vaccine. The importance of border closures is also questioned, acknowledging that while they may have some impact, their effectiveness varies.

Introduction

3min

The Guy: A Pandemic Disaster Movie

6min

Ferrets and the Flu Virus

1min

The Flu Virus Mutation and the Death Toll Over One Million

5min

The President's Warnings About the Flu Pandemic

2min

The Iceberg of the Flu Epidemic

5min

The Death of a Neighbor

3min

The Death of a Neighbor

6min

The Future of Pandemics

3min

10.

The Heart Island Thing

2min

11.

The Pandemic of COVID

2min

12.

The Effects of Flu Vaccines on Mortality Rates

2min

13.

The Importance of Closer Borders in COVID

2min

14.

The Science of Climate Change

3min

15.

How to Look Less Old and Withered

2min

Just two months before Covid-19 broke out, we made a fictional pandemic episode that was like “Contagion” but with citations. And we played it for Dr. Anthony Fauci. Today, we’re looking back at that episode and asking — how much of the pandemic did we predict?

This episode has some unbleeped curse words.

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsPandemic

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Chapter One: Why we’re sharing this episode

(03:42) Chapter Two: Meet Dr. Anthony Fauci

(07:10) Chapter Three: The fictional pandemic begins

(26:50) Chapter Four: Fauci’s thoughts on our fake pandemic

(33:53) Chapter Five: Wendy and Blythe’s reaction

The original pandemic episode was produced by Kaitlyn Sawrey, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Michelle Dang, Lexi Krupp, Rose Rimler and Meryl Horn. It was edited by Caitlin Kenney and Blythe Terrell. Extra writing help from Kevin Christopher Snipes. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Mix and sound design by Peter Leonard. Music written by Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord and Marcus Thorne Bagala. This new update was produced by Rose Rimler and fact checked by Erika Akiko Howard, and mixed by Bobby lord.

Thank you to all the scientists and researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr. Eric Toner, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Beth Maldin Morgenthau, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, Dr. Mandy Izzo, Dr. Kurt Frey, Professor Michael Osterholm, Dr. Patrick Saunders Hastings, Rosemary Gibson, Thomas Bollyky, Dr. Ashleigh Tuite, Professor Stephen Morse, Dr. Lalitha Sundaram, Professor David N. Fisman, Lynette Brammer, the late Dr. Mohamed Naguib, Dr. Yeulong Shu, Dr. Dan Jernigan, Dr. Kirsty Short, and special thanks to Bess Davenport at CDC.

Thanks to our actors, Annabelle Fox as Mindy, as well as the late William Dufris, Alice Kors, Dani Cervone, Robin Miles, Jordan Cobb, Jonathan Woodward, Ian Lowe and Casey Wortmann. Directed by William Dufris with help from Wendy Zukerman, Kaitlyn Sawrey and Fred Greenhalgh. Recording by Fred Greenhalgh and Peter Leonard. Also thank you to all the Gimlet people who performed various drafts during edits, including Chad Chenail, Gabe Lozada, Jasmine Romero and MR Daniel. And a huge thank you to Frank Lopez, Jorge Just, Joel Werner, R.E. Natowicz, Stevie Lane, Phoebe Flanigan, Chris Giliberti, Justin McGolrick, Katie Pastore, the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

Gimlet’s managing director is Nicole Beemsterboer. Science Vs is a Spotify Original Podcast and a Gimlet production. Follow Science vs on Spotify. Tap the bell to receive new episode notifications.

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