Epidemic co-host Ron Klain, who led the White House's ebola response under President Obama, talks to Recode's Kara Swisher about how the COVID-19 outbreak will strain America's healthcare system; how President Trump downplayed the crisis, rattling public confidence and delaying the country's response; and the way people who work in the gig economy — including Uber drivers and food delivery workers — will be especially hurt by the situation. He also discusses the logic behind travel bans and limits of their efficacy, why it's impossible for the US to completely cut itself off from China, and what Trump didn't say in his Oval Office address, but should have. Klain, an adviser and former chief of staff to Joe Biden, also talks about the ex-vice president's surprisingly successful presidential campaign and how it's reckoning with Biden's history of verbal flubs.

Featuring:

Ron Klain (@RonaldKlain), former White House "ebola czar" and co-host, Epidemic

Host:

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

More to explore:

On Reset, Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores why — and how — tech is changing everything.

On Recode Media, Peter Kafka interviews business titans, journalists, comedians and podcasters about the collision of tech and media.

On Pivot, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the big tech news stories of the week, who's winning, who's failing, and what comes next.

And on Land of the Giants, Jason Del Rey chronicled the rise of Amazon. Season 2 will focus on Netflix and is coming soon!

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