Reopening America

We have heard a lot of mixed results about the anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine and its effectiveness in treating COVID-19. Not wanting to offer false hope, many health experts have urged caution until more studies have been done. But how did all this talk about this drug get started and why has President Trump pushed for its use so hard. In mid-March, a cryptocurrency investor, a law school graduate, and a self-described philosopher found each other on Twitter and published a paper about the potential. Tina Nguyen, White House reporter at Politico, tells us about the domino effect that led to hydroxychloroquine being part of the conversation.

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China has officially lifted the lockdown of Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus outbreak first emerged. When this all started, China shut down the city of 11 million and many countries took the same steps in some fashion. Now the city is opening back up, but all is not as it was before. People can leave Wuhan, but a government sanctioned phone app will have to affirm they are not a contagion risk, some businesses have set up street-front counters so customers can get their goods without going inside, and schools remain closed. Marissa Fernandez, reporter for Axios, joins us for the end of the Wuhan lockdown.

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It’s all hands on deck to fight coronavirus and the US Army’s top virus research lab is also helping out with the effort. The US Army Institute of Infectious Diseases is working on the long term game to help beat COVID-19. They are working on animal models to test possible treatments and also working on screening antibodies that could be used to make a universal vaccine. Eric Niiler, contributor to Wired, joins us for how USAMRIID is helping out.

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As some are starting to recover from COVID-19 they face an uncertain road back to normal. The guidelines vary on when someone can return to their normal pre-quarantine lives. But generally, you want to be symptom free for at least three days and have two consecutive negative tests, although those can be hard to come by in quick fashion. Daniella Hernandez, reporter for the WSJ, joins us for when someone can be considered well again.

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Something to watch out for in getting tested and seeing a doctor during this pandemic, unforeseen medical bills. While you might not get charged for the test itself, you might not want to go to the emergency room. Some in-network emergency rooms could be staffed with doctors that work for private companies and out-of-network. Emmarie Huetteman, correspondent for Kaiser Health News, joins us for more.

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U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says that this week will be one of the hardest and saddest for Americans as we continue to fight our way through the coronavirus pandemic. The next two weeks are critical as experts think multiple states will hit their peak of cases of COVID-19. Several governors are also in a tight situation trying to acquire the proper supplies for their states as the national stockpile of equipment is almost depleted and they are pleading with the federal government to take a bigger lead in helping. Stef Kight, reporter for Axios, joins us for this and also how Joe Biden continues to campaign during this crisis.

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While we brace ourselves to make it through this right now, the scientific community around the world is in a race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. There are currently at least 43 different vaccines in development around the world. But the process remains slow. While many things have changed about how to develop vaccines, such as being able to target the DNA and RNA of the viruses in quick fashion, the rest of the process- tasing in humans and also the manufacturing for wide use remains very slow. That is why we might still be a year away from an effective vaccine. Samanth Subramanian, contributor to The Guardian Long Reads, joins us for the work behind the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

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With the global economy coming to a halt, airline flights cancelled, and people staying at home, the unintended consequence has been that air pollution is down. In a somewhat unwanted atmospheric experiment we are seeing levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide go down, but these small gains may not last once things get back to normal. Ula Chrobak, contributor to Popular Science, joins us for how coronavirus has cut down air pollution.

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We’ve known for some time that those with underlying health conditions are more at risk of getting more severe symptoms from COVID-19, but new data from the CDC shows that those with diabetes, lung disease and heart disease face an increased chance of being hospitalized. The CDC found that of those people requiring admission to an ICU, 78% had at least one underlying health condition. Joel Achenbach, reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for more.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has officially declared a 30-day stay-at-home order for the state after facing criticism for not doing so earlier. The other issue facing Florida is what to do with sick people on the Zaandam cruise ship that wants to dock in Port Everglades. DeSantis only wants to take state residents that are on the ship and the Coast Guard has said that the ships must stay out at sea with the sick on board. A plan is still being worked on for what to do even as another sick cruise ship also plans to make its way there. Samantha Gross, reporter at the Miami Herald, joins us for more.

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