Public Health On Call

Where are we now on combating mis- and disinformation about COVID and vaccines that has run rampant online since the early days of the pandemic? Clint Watts and Rachel Chernaskey of Miburo, a digital consulting company that focuses on misinformation and extremism, talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the current ecosystem of persisting misinformation, where we are in terms of combating purveyors, and what can be done on the individual, local, and societal level to drown out harmful noise.

Across the US, 84% of residents in nursing homes and long-term care facilities are vaccinated for COVID-19, but only 64% of staff. Federal mandates could help but it's unclear when or how those would be enforced and, in the meantime, the industry is already suffering from a severe staffing shortage. Dr. David Grabowski, a health policy researcher and professor at Harvard, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about this largely underpaid and overworked group of people, how vaccine mandates could play out, and what can be done to prevent a staffing and care crisis.

At this point in the pandemic, what do we need to know about masks? Dr. Amesh Adalja from the Center for Health Security talks with Stephanie Desmon about a new report, "Masks and Respirators for the 21st Century: Policy Changes Needed to Save Lives and Prevent Societal Disruption." They talk about which masks are best for day-to-day use and why innovation is necessary to develop masks that are comfortable and wearable. They also talk about HOW to overcome supply chain issues and why it's critical to start solving these problems now before the next infectious disease outbreak. Read the report here: https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/publications/masks-and-respirators-for-the-21st-century

On a special episode, Tradeoffs host Dan Gorenstein talks about how the pandemic has affected the public health workforce: More than 300 officials quit, were fired, or retired while, at the same time, applications to public health programs jumped 40%. Gorenstein introduces a conversation between Jen Miller, who left her job with the Montana Department of Public Health after constant harassment and conflict, and Nicole Snyder, a first-year master's student at UNC Chapel who was called to public health after seeing impacts of the pandemic—two individual examples of a nationwide trend in public health. Learn more here: https://tradeoffs.org/

There was virtually no flu in the U.S. last year thanks to a confluence of factors including COVID-related mask wearing and social distancing. But, now that more and more of life is "back to normal," what can we expect to see this year? Virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about why a resurgence of flu could complicate the COVID pandemic, how virologists can make predictions about flu when there was so little virus circulating last year, and why it's more important than ever to get your flu shot.

School closures and unprecedented screen time may be contributing to vision problems for kids. Pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Megan Collins talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about a rise in near-sightedness in children, why vision problems are often missed without school screenings, potential health and learning effects, and how vision problems in kids can be addressed on the individual and national levels.

In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with researchers who break down two papers in the news. Dr. Nikolas Wada talks about a study led by researchers in Bangladesh and the U.S. which tested whether masks really help to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Kate Grabowski discusses a Lancet paper from the U.K. about "test to stay" programs in schools and whether the use of rapid tests is better than quarantining when a child tests positive. These researchers are part of the Hopkins novel coronavirus research consortium, with many summaries of new studies available at http://ncrc.jhsph.edu.

This week, Merck applied for FDA Emergency Use Authorization for its COVID-19 oral antiviral drug, molnupiravir. Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talks with Stephanie Desmon about how the drug works to help people recover from COVID-19 quicker and the drug's history starting a decade ago as an experimental treatment for Ebola. Dieffenbach talks about how the drug could complement pandemic response and why it's not a substitute for vaccination. *Note: This podcast was recorded on October 6.

Dr. Jay Varma, physician and advisor for New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio on the pandemic response authored an Atlantic called "Not Every Question Has a Scientific Answer." In the article, Varma talks about the critical role of politicians in determining difficult COVID-19 policy questions. In this special bonus episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Varma about the intersection of public values, politics, and science in responding to COVID-19.

Monday, October 11 is Indigenous Peoples' Day in the U.S.—a day previously recognized as Columbus Day that is now reserved for reflection, education, and untangling the false narrative of discovery. Dr. Sophie Neuner of the Center for American Indian Health and co-host of a new podcast, Indigenae, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how non-Indigenous people can think about this observance and how Indigenous people are leading on health practices and environmental revitalization. Learn more about Indigenae: https://caih.jhu.edu/programs/indigenae-podcast. Find your area on the Native Land map: native-land.ca