Transcript

“The goal is to try to keep as many people from being infected for as long as possible to try to effectively stretch this thing out so that the hospitals are dealing with fewer cases.” - Helen Branswell 

In today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain discuss the concept of flattening the curve and what impact this can have on healthcare workers and hospitals. They speak with Helen Branswell, a leading infectious disease reporter at STAT. Helen speaks about what other countries are doing to fight against the pandemic and flatten their own curves, and how these measures compare to measures currently being taken in the United States. The co-hosts also speak with Dr. Craig Spencer from Columbia University Medical Center, a member of the Board of Directors of Doctors Without Borders for the United States. Dr. Craig Spencer discusses his own experiences in working as a healthcare worker during other infectious disease outbreaks, including the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, where he himself became infected, but was successfully treated back home in the United States. He also talks about the kinds of tough choices that healthcare workers in the United States will soon have to face.

Listener Q&A: Should my 89-year old mother come to live with me in order to decrease her chances of becoming infected with COVID-19, or is it safer for her to isolate herself in her apartment? Why don't state health departments take public health guidance on COVID-19 from WHO or academia, rather than the CDC and federal government? Would there be legal repercussions if states were to follow the recommendations of their own experts? Is there any evidence that moving college courses online will really slow the spread of the virus?

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