Take as Directed

In this episode, Renee DiResta, a prominent expert who studies malign narratives across social networks and what can be done to rebut them, walks Steve and Andrew through her thinking on several provocative questions: Why does the coronavirus pandemic invite pseudoscience, government conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns? What to make of the recent release of the "Plandemic" video in which the discredited scientist Judy Miskovits makes outlandish, unsubstantiated claims of a secrete plot by global elites – Bill Gates and Tony Fauci – to use the pandemic to grab power, attracting 8 million viewers in short order? Why are CDC and WHO “behemoths” incapable of adapting to new realities? Where are other trusted authoritative sources? As the push accelerates for a vaccine for the planet, can we expect expansive personal attacks upon those developing the solutions?

Renee DiResta is the technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory and a regular contributor to Wired magazine. 

In this episode, Steve speaks with Dr. Jean William (Bill) Pape, a renowned public health professor and practitioner appointed in late April by Haitian President Moïse to co-chair the country’s Covid-19 response commission. Having combatted HIV/AIDS, cholera, hurricanes, and an earthquake, Bill deems the coronavirus pandemic as the toughest challenge he has seen, a “perfect storm.” Haiti’s extreme challenges are undeniable – deep political divisions, stigma, economic decline, sudden return of Haitians from the Dominican Republic, gangs and insecurity. What is the urgent way forward? And how is it to be executed? 

Dr. Jean William Pape is Director of GHESKIO, based in Port au Prince, and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. 

In this episode, we speak with Professor Salim Abdool Karim (Slim), a preeminent HIV scientist based in Durban who chairs the scientific Covid-19 advisory group launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa to guide the national response. Looking back to March, Slim bluntly surveys South Africa’s successes and achievements, the acute vulnerabilities of those living with HIV and TB, tough controversies, major constraints, and mistakes that required correction. Early aggressive action by the President slowed the spread of the virus and bought precious time, though excessive reliance on the police and military backfired. An army of 60,000 health workers are the lead element in proactive outreach to communities. Testing has expanded, but lack of access internationally to reagents holds the country back. Modeling has illuminated alarming possibilities, while triggering calls for more transparency. Cape Town remains a dangerous epicenter; others likely lie ahead. The future is a continued, difficult fight to control hot spots and permit the reopening of the economy.

Professor Salim Abdool Karim is a clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist, of world renown for achievements in HIV prevention and treatment. He is Director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) in Durban and Professor at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

In this episode, on the day when the number who have died from Covid-19 in America reached 100,000, we speak with special guests Eustace and Carol Theodore, both longtime friends of Steve. After vacationing in England in the first half of March, as the virus was swiftly and invisibly spreading throughout the UK, they returned to Vermont, just prior to President Trump imposing flight bans on Europe, the UK and Ireland. They describe Eustace’s accumulating symptoms, and the uncertain, extended process by which they finally came to discover he had indeed been infected with Covid-19 while abroad. In an extreme condition, Eustace is intubated and placed on a ventilator. How and why did he survive? How has recovery advanced? And what are the larger meanings of their profound, shared experiences? 

Eustace Theodore has had a long career in education, as a sociologist and residential at Yale College, Executive Director of the Association of Yale Alumni, and President of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Carol Theodore has had a distinguished career as a corporate lawyer.

In this episode, we are joined by a very special guest: Julien, a wonderfully insightful 13-year-old seventh-grader from Berkeley, California. We talk about his experience of over two months of shelter-in-place: how disruptive has this been to friendships, school, sports? What has he done to get greater control over his life? Are we going to get out from under this pandemic? And what’s a young person’s advice for the adults around him?

In this episode, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland joins us to talk about what Congress can do to respond to Covid-19 right now, including ensuring access and affordability for new treatments and a vaccine, and building stimulus packages for every level of government. Senator Van Hollen shares his thoughts on how expanding national service could help to ramp up testing and contact tracing and alleviate unemployment. The Senator also unpacks why American global leadership is crucial and how China is taking advantage of this moment to gain strategic advantage.

In this crossover episode with CSIS's The Truth of the Matter podcast, Tulane University professor and historian John Barry, author of the New York Times bestseller The Great Influenza, joins the podcast from his home in New Orleans’ French Quarter to discuss the lessons gleaned from the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that speak to today’s coronavirus pandemic sweeping America and the world.

In this episode, we are joined by Director of the Africa CDC Dr. John Nkengasong and U.S. Ambassador to the African Union Jessica Lapenn. Africa CDC is advancing a continental plan to address the dire, burgeoning threat Covid-19 poses to Africa, where testing has been woeful, where the continent stands at the back of the line in access to test kits, protective gear, oxygen, and financing; and where lockdowns can trigger an economic shock, food crises and instability. WHO remains a vital, indispensable partner. South Africa President and AU Chairman Cyril Ramaphosa has led the charge. PEPFAR, the Global Fund, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance have created health infrastructure now adapting to the Covid-19 threat. Jack Ma, Alibaba Foundation, the Gates Foundation and others have moved with remarkable speed to support Africa CDC. 

In this episode, we bring in Alisha Kramer, a star who cut her teeth right after college working with the CSIS Global Health Policy Center. Now a freshly-minted resident doctor, practicing obstetrics and gynecology in Atlanta hospitals, she assists young pregnant women in navigating the new realities of Covid-19. She shares with us reflections on the risks and fears of health providers, the racial and class divisions she sees every day, the dangers of prematurely lifting the shelter-in-place policies, and the acts of generosity from the community that bring her to tears.

In this episode, the conversation takes off from a recent piece published by Steve and Anna Carroll, Global Health Policy Center’s Associate Fellow, that examines President Trump’s decision to suspend U.S. assistance to the World Health Organization. What drives that decision? And with what consequences, at this historic moment in the pandemic? Is there any possibility of a diplomatic solution that might preserve U.S. support of the WHO?