Reopening America

New documents obtained by STAT News show just how involved the military is in Operation Warp Speed, the effort to fast-track a COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics. The $10 billion initiative is going to pose a huge logistical undertaking once a vaccine is approved and that is one of the benefits of having so many in the military involved, they are good at complex logistical issues. Nicholas Florko, Washington correspondent at STAT News, joins us for more.

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Months into the pandemic and the country is still facing a shortage of N95 respirator masks. While hospitals have increased their supplies and stockpiles continue to be replenished, many nurses and frontline healthcare workers find themselves still reusing masks that were meant to be used only once. Mask production has increased, but without long-term guarantees, manufacturers are hesitant to invest more and they are protecting their intellectual property and not sharing exactly how the masks are developed. Jessica Contrera, reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for the N95 shortage we can't seem to fix.

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The first year of the 2020s has left us all asking: How will we move forward from here? Join Pete Buttigieg, former presidential candidate and Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, in conversation with leading activists, politicians, authors, scholars, entertainers and more to confront America’s greatest challenges and discuss the ideas and actions that will shape the times we are about to live through.

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Music festivals and the live events industry are trying to create their own ‘bubbles’ to get people out again. One strategy that is being explored is two-stage Covid testing. Get a test a few days before the event, and then another quick test before you can get in. While there are some limitations, this could be a model to get live events going again. Michelle Lhooq, independent counter culture journalist at Bloomberg News, joins us for more. You can also catch more of Michelle’s counter culture reporting at RaveNewWorld.Substack.com.

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Essential workers in the U.S. are reporting high levels of burnout. Because of the pandemic, essential workers are having to deal with increased workloads, understaffing, and stress from fear of getting sick and enforcing safety protocols. Michael Sainato, reporter at The Guardian, joins us for how 58% of U.S. workers are burned out.

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A look back at the early days of the pandemic and the first nursing home outbreak at the Life Care Center of Kirkland in Washington. Forty-six people died there, but did those deaths have to happen? The way that COVID-19 tore through the facility is a cautionary tale for the way we operate nursing homes in the U.S. There were failures at many steps during the way, all while residents and workers saw some of their friends get sick and die. Katie Engelhart, contributor to California Sunday Magazine, spent months investigating what happened and joins us for how it all played out.

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Thousands of U.S. troops will be taking part in a COVID-19 early detection study with the aim of understanding what it means to be asymptomatic and also catching illnesses before they get worse. Soldiers will wear bio-measuring devices that monitor small changes in blood oxygen levels, heartbeat, or respiratory patterns. Nancy Youssef, national security correspondent at the WSJ, joins us for more.

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A coronavirus vaccine may be on its way soon, but that doesn’t mean that people are ready to take it. According to an Axios-Ipsos poll, 60% of people say they don’t want to take a first-generation vaccine, in part because of how it has been politicized. Margaret Talev, politics and White House editor at Axios, joins us for how resistance to taking a Covid vaccine is growing.

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If you’ve noticed that your trash has expanded, along with your waistline during this COVID19 sheltering in place, you’re not alone. Tom Sietsema, food critic for The Washington Post will have tips on minimizing the trash pileup from takeout containers. As for your waistline, you might be on your own.

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One team from Massachusetts General Hospital considered whether Google searches for GI issues might be a way to spot COVID-19 hotspots early. Claire Maldarelli, Associate Editor for Popular Science lays out how your computer key strokes may serve as a stroke of genius in weathering the pandemic in future months. 

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