Public Health On Call

California has had a reputation as one of the more vigorous in terms of COVID-19 mitigation tactics and now, two years later, the state is changing tack. Dr. Mark Ghaly, California's Secretary of Health and Human Services, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the state's new and more nimble S.M.A.R.T.E.R. approach which focuses on key metrics and broad surveillance to know what responses are needed where. They also talk about what it's been like to lead in this role during the pandemic.

China and Hong Kong are facing the worst COVID outbreaks since the start of the pandemic and a draconian zero-COVID policy is making things worse. Dr. Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council of Foreign Relations, talks with Stephanie Desmon about how the zero-COVID policy has left China and Hong Kong vulnerable to outbreaks, why vaccination of vulnerable groups is so low, and why outbreaks may continue to happen if the policy stays in place.

Virologist Dr. Andrew Pekosz returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about BA.2, a "not unexpected but tiring" new sibling of the omicron variant. They discuss who should be most concerned about getting sick and what might happen in the coming weeks. They also discuss reports of "deltacron," a viral recombination of delta and omicron, and what we can learn from Hong Kong and China's COVID crises about the omicron variant.

What is Disease X? Dr. Amesh Adalja and Dr. Anita Cicero of the Center for Health Security return to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the unknown cause of the next pandemic, which is likely to come from a viral family already known but poorly studied. They talk about how investing now to develop medical countermeasures like diagnostic tests and treatments could buy valuable time and save many lives when the next threat emerges.

Dr. Caitlin Rivers returns to the podcast to talk about her work with the CDC's new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics. Funded through the American Rescue Plan, the Center works with academic and government partners to model potential health threats and monitor outbreaks. Rivers talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about standing up the new center, how omicron gave them an initial test run of analyzing data to brief government leaders on what was to come, and their hopes for eventually creating localized COVID forecasts to help prevent transmission during outbreaks.

Based on past conflicts, if Russia takes over in Ukraine, it's likely that some of Ukraine's public health policies will be essentially rewritten or revoked overnight. Dr. Chris Beyrer returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about Russia's history of revoking life-saving public health policies and imposing its own "traditional" laws like targeting homosexuals for harrassment and assault, cruel detox practices for people who use drugs, decriminalizing domestic abuse, and more violations of human rights. A content warning that the podcast contains discussions of these and other examples of violence.

Chicago's public health response to the pandemic has been focused on racial equity from the beginning—and the approach is paying dividends. Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago's health commissioner, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the city's innovative efforts, why they chose to invest in building a public health workforce over bringing in outsourced solutions, and how she and her team have kept up the momentum over two long years.

Epidemiologist Keri Althoff and mental health expert Elizabeth Stuart return to the podcast to talk us through yet another phase of the pandemic. They speak with Stephanie Desmon about where we are now and why there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic, how families can navigate mask-wearing, the CDC's new approach to monitoring risks, and why the COVID response is a dial, not an "on/off switch."

Does Russia's bombing of the Mariupol Maternity Hospital constitute a war crime? Johns Hopkins faculty member and author Len Rubenstein returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the recent attack, Russia's history of destroying hospitals, and the importance of accountability to stop such attacks in the future.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is displacing millions of people across Europe. Humanitarian expert Paul Spiegel returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about the crisis and its tremendous geopolitical significance, major public health concerns at play including mental health trauma, health care for refugees, and the added complication of COVID-19. They also talk about why this refugee crisis is different than others and how discrimination plays a key role in deciding who has access to humanitarian resources.