Public Health On Call

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377: An Update on COVID-19 and India Sep 29, 2021

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Last spring, India experienced a catastrophic wave of COVID-19 infections with more than 100,000 cases per day, exceeding hospital capacity in some areas and leading to oxygen shortages. What has happened since? From their homes in India, infectious disease researchers Dr. Vidya Mave and Dr. Brian Wahl talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the state of the pandemic and the return to daily life.

376 - Rethinking Herd Immunity and COVID-19 Sep 27, 2021

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With the rollout of vaccines earlier this year, the concept of "herd immunity"—the idea that enough people would become immune to COVID-19 that we could more or less "return to normal"—seemed plausible. But a number of factors are complicating the US's fight against the pandemic and we're still seeing thousands of people dying every day. Epidemiologists Amber D'Souza and David Dowdy return to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about vaccinations and the delta variant, what the future might look like and why we may need to accept that COVID-19 is here to stay.

375 - All Things COVID-19 Testing With Dr. Gigi Gronvall Sep 24, 2021

Show notes

Where are we with testing technology? Why is the demand for testing surging and are there enough tests? When is the best time to use at-home testing given the cost? What's the difference between PCR and rapid antigen tests and how accurate are they in different circumstances? Dr. Gigi Gronvall gives an update on testing and answers questions with Stephanie Desmon. Note: Dr. Gronvall references the Center For Health Security's Testing Toolkit resource, which you can find here https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/covid-19TestingToolkit/.

374 - COVID-19 in Mississippi Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

Mississippi is leading the nation in the rate of COVID deaths. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state's health commissioner, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the state's pandemic crisis, including its impact on pregnant women, the role of misinformation, and the impact on the health care system.

373 - Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet? Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

How can we help the planet by rethinking our diets? In a new book, Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet?, Dr. Jessica Fanzo, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics points out how our food options are often unhealthy for human bodies—and for the planet. Dr. Fanzo talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about making changes at both policy and individual levels, from the responsible use of genetically modified organisms to redesigning "choice architecture" in grocery stores and restaurants.

372 - Book Club: Perilous Medicine—The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War Sep 17, 2021

Show notes

There is a long history of protecting health care workers during conflict, beginning with an 1859 battle in Italy that gave rise to the first Geneva Convention. But there's never been a "golden age of compliance" and health care workers continue to face considerable risk while trying to reduce human suffering in war zones. Len Rubenstein, a public health and human rights lawyer and faculty at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute for Bioethics, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about his new book that examines the history of health care in armed conflict, how the Conventions have evolved, and where things are today with notable conflicts erupting around the world.

371 - Appreciation and Hostility: Working With COVID-19 Patients Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

For a year and a half, Johns Hopkins infectious disease doctor Kelly Gebo has been working with people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Gebo and a team of medical professionals triage COVID outpatients in a "pod" outside of the hospital where people diagnosed with COVID can come for convalescent plasma and care. Gebo talks about seeing patients in sleet and extreme heat, the parallels of her work with HIV patients in the 1990s, and how while many patients are appreciative, some are angry or frustrated and may have been exposed to misinformation that makes care more difficult.

370 - VoteER: Helping Patients and Providers Vote Like Their Health Depends On It Sep 13, 2021

Show notes

There are over 50 million Americans who are eligible to vote but are not registered. VoteEr is an organization at the intersection of health and voting, providing kits for health care offices and ERs that help patients check their registration status or easily register via a text message code while waiting to be seen. Dr. Alister Martin, VoteER's founder and executive director, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the program and why reaching people in health care settings can make a difference.

369 - How 9-11 and Anthrax Changed Public Health Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the Anthrax events in the weeks that followed, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Dr. Tom Inglesby of the Center for Health Security about the transformational impacts these events had on public health. They discuss what the attacks revealed about the US's vulnerabilities, how an influx of funding helped establish better public health preparedness, and the impacts these may have had on the US's response to COVID-19—for better or worse.

368 - COVID-19 and Protecting Our Kids Sep 08, 2021

Show notes

Stephanie Desmon talks to Dr. Stephen Patrick, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, about why the focus of COVID-19 right now needs to be kids, who have suffered mightily since the pandemic began and who are now filling up children's hospitals as many are sickened by the Delta variant. They discuss how politicians and religious leaders need to step up to protect children instead of downplaying the risks.

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