G&R Episode 52: Politics and the Coronavirus. Thanksgiving Edition w/ Prof. Sarah Koster

We're rejoined by our friend and comrade Prof. Sarah Koster of Samuel Merritt University to discuss the latest surge of COVID-19 cases.  The U.S. is being hit hard by the latest surge of COVID cases. Last week, the country surpassed 250,000 deaths with over 2,000 deaths daily.  The state of North Dakota has the worst COVID infection rate on the planet. NYC is closing it's schools once again. California is putting an "emergency brake" on it's re-opening. El Paso County, TX is having another massive outbreak and has brought in ten mobile morgues to hold bodies and is paying prisoners $2 a day to move bodies. Meanwhile, Trump plays golf and the federal government does very little in the way of relief from the pandemic or the economic crisis it's causing.  We discuss the politics of the pandemic, the vaccines being flouted by pharmaceuticals Pfizer and Moderna and the failures of the U.S. healthcare system. We also discuss the need to avoid large  gatherings and alternative ways to enjoy Thanksgiving.  And much more.  Plus we throw in our usual witty banter.  Sarah is a Family Nurse Practitioner and also has Masters in Public  Health from the University of Washington in Seattle. Sarah worked in  research and program evaluation for about 7 years with the Infectious  Disease Division at the University of New Mexico Medical School and  completed a fellowship in Infectious Disease Epidemiology with the  University of Alabama at Birmingham while living in Southern Africa.  She teaches Community Health at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, CA  and is committed to involving students in conversations about the  importance of structural determinants of health including how capitalism  and various existing political systems, in the US and globally,  continue to negatively affect health outcomes. Read more// Alexandra Mangili and Mark A Gendreau:Transmission of infectious diseases during commercial air travel (https://bit.ly/2UR6dB5) New Yorker: Biden's Covid-19 Mission (https://bit.ly/37382Rm) Guardian: Donald Trump appears to admit Covid is 'running wild' in the US (https://bit.ly/2HtoVvL) CNN: Trump's attempt to steal the election unravels as coronavirus cases surge (https://cnn.it/39a8jVm) Also, follow us on any of these social media channels// Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GreenRedPodcast Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PodcastGreenRed Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenredpodcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://bit.ly/GreenAndRedOnYouTube Donate to Green and Red Podcast// Become a recurring donor at  https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR This is a Green and Red Podcast production. Produced by Bob  (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). "Green and Red Blues" by Moody.  Editing extraordinaire by Isaac.