Reopening America

As President Trump continues the push to reopen schools, the CDC wants to take a more cautious approach. A CDC document on its guidelines was leaked and it recommends that schools be prepared to shut down for several days if a person carrying the virus was in a school building, they should have multiple means of social distancing and limits on out-of-classroom activities. As with many things these days however, there seems to be a disconnect between policy and science. John Timmer, senior editor at Ars Technica, joins us for the CDC’s approach to reopening schools.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The reopening of America has not been going so well just yet. While some gains have been made, a resurgence of cases and delays in unemployment benefits have continued to push people to the edge. There are issues with fraud and user confusion, long waits to process jobless applications, and outdated computer systems used by unemployment offices. Eli Rosenberg, work and labor reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

California is largely closing again amid a rise in coronavirus cases. Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered once again, the closure of indoor dining and limits on gyms, churches, hair salons and other businesses. And as cases go up, testing continues to be a problem to get under control. From the very beginning of the pandemic, the state fell behind and has been struggling to keep up. There was problems with current infrastructure, supply shortages, and it led to difficulties in contact tracing too. Emily Baumgaertner, reporter at The LA Times, joins us for California’s failure at mass testing.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Antibody tests were also hailed as one of the main ways to get people back to work. Test positive for antibodies and it means you've had the coronavirus and aren't in danger of catching it or infecting someone else. But these tests have had problems with accuracy. The reporter we speak to next had to take five antibody tests before she could trust the results. And the big question, does testing for antibodies give you a free pass? We still don't know how much immunity is bestowed on a person or for how long it lasts. Stephanie Baker, senior writer at Bloomberg News, joins us for what to know about these tests.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Short of a vaccine, testing is the first line of defense in helping limit the spread of COVID-19. But what will it look like when everyone returns to work? Some employers are finding out that testing employees is more trouble than it's worth. Issues with cost, access, and employee privacy are some of the reasons why testing isn't part of back-to-work plans. Instead, employers are in favor of lower cost options like masks, hand sanitizer, temperature checks, and symptom screening. Emma Court, heath reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us for workplace safety during the pandemic.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some marriages are starting to buckle under quarantine and strict lockdowns. In some households, months of monotony and spending too much time together is exposing bad behavior and exacerbating underlying problems most likely there before the pandemic began. Marisa Kashino, senior editor at Washingtonian, joins us for more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump is pushing hard for schools to fully reopen in the fall. He has slammed the CDC guidelines on reopening and also threatened to cut funding from schools that don’t open. While children are only half as likely as adults to get infected with COVID-19, there is still a lot of concern over how to reopen. Laura Meckler, national education reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for the fight to reopen schools.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who is getting all the money? The Small Business Association and the Treasury Department have released the names of more than 660,000 businesses that received money from the Paycheck Protection Program. The program has given payouts to lawmaker-connected businesses including car dealerships, casinos, construction companies and restaurants. Nicholas Wu, politics reporter at USA Today, joins us for more on the PPP.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is an ongoing discussion about how COVID-19 spreads through the air. We know that it can spread from respiratory droplets when someone coughs or sneezes, but there is a growing body of evidence showing that is can spread through even smaller aerosolized droplets that can linger in poorly ventilated areas. Kat Eschner, contributing editor at PopSci, for why COVID’s airborne transmission may deserve more attention.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A world leader in pandemic preparedness at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security has said that we might have to deal with wearing masks for several years as it will take time for a vaccine to hit the masses. He also suggests that there will be no summer time lull in cases leading us to a another big wave in the fall. Claire Reilly, host of “Hacking the Apocalypse” and senior editor at CNET, joins us for this and how technology is being leveraged to help the fight against COVID-19.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.