There is a threat to America’s public health that is as insidious as the spread of COVID. It runs through social media.  It surfaces in cable news, podcasts, newspapers - and even in the public statements of elected officials and health professionals. In this concluding episode of the series, we hear from the experts about tangible, workable, scalable solutions to our disease of disinformation..  

There is a threat to America’s public health that is as insidious as the spread of COVID. It runs through social media.  It surfaces in cable news, podcasts, newspapers - and even in the public statements of elected officials and health professionals. In this episode we consider the impact of mis and disinformation. We talk to a woman whose father got Covid after hearing that it was safe to go out. And we discuss the rapid erosion of trust in science, medicine, and public health.

In this special podcast series we hear from people whose lives have been forever changed by Covid disinformation. And we look at what can be done to turn the tide. In this episode - who is responsible for spreading the lies?  And how can they be held accountable?  

There is a threat to America’s public health that is as insidious as the spread of COVID. It runs through social media.  It surfaces in cable news, podcasts, newspapers - and even in the public statements of elected officials and some health professionals. This disease of disinformation causes confusion, sickness, even death.  And no one seems to be able to stop it.  It is a pandemic in its own right. Today we are going to look at what disinformation is, where it's coming from and how to...

Many states are relaxing mask mandates and rethinking pandemic era restrictions. Today on the podcast we recalibrate for the new normal: relaxed workplace rules, and changes to masking in schools, airports and restaurants. What do public health officials make of all this? We check in with Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of  the American Public Health Association and Dr. Lynn Goldman, Dean of the Milken Institute of the GWU School of Public Health.  

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the pandemic it’s that,  just when we think when we’re out of the woods, it throws us for or a loop. Today we talk to Dr. Catherine Troisi, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston.  Professor Troisi shares with us her perspective on the Omicron surge in Texas and its effects on hospitals, schools and health workers across the state.  

As the pandemic enters its third year, we consider the possibility that we will be living with the Covid-19 virus indefinitely. Today on the podcast host Frank Sesno talks to Dr. David Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at  George Washington University’s Milken School of Public Health. He is also one of the longest serving heads of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Michaels and five other experts who advised Biden’s transition team, have called on President Biden to...

“Public health saved your life today, you just don’t know it,” That was the original title Dr. Leana Wen gave the book she wrote about her career as the Health Commissioner in Baltimore, Maryland. But when Covid 19 hit, Wen rewrote it and turned it into a personal story about public health, visible only when it is underfunded, ignored and laid bare by the devastation of Covid 19.

We’ve seen so many important advances in our fight against Covid in 2021. And yet it is impossible to forget the struggle and the anguish over so many lives lost. In this episode of Healthy You – Surviving a Pandemic, host Frank Sesno talks to Lauren Weber, Midwest Correspondent for Kaiser Health News. Lauren shares her perspective on the pandemic from Missouri, a state she describes as having some of the worst public health infrastructure in the nation.

There’s a dedicated group of health professionals that are exhausted and overwhelmed and working harder than ever before: school nurses. Since Covid hit they have been helping children who are suffering the stress of the Pandemic. In this episode of Healthy You we meet Gloria Barrera.  She is a certified school nurse for a public high school in Illinois and President of the Illinois Nurses Association.  She has also recently been honored with a 40 under 40 award from the de Beaumont foundation. 

Parents have been waiting for this moment. To send their children to school in the morning without worrying that they will come back with Covid at the end of the day. The FDA has authorized the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.  On this episode of Healthy You - Surviving a Pandemic, we’re going talk about the Covid vaccine for young children with pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit.

There is one profession that we trust more than any other. We trust nurses. And during the pandemic they have become our lifeline. But what about the lives and well-being of the nurses who take care of us? On this episode of Healthy You - Surviving a Pandemic we talk to Ernest Grant the Director of the American Nurses Association – and Lucas Pieper, an ICU nurse who works with Covid patients in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs has one mission in life right now. And that’s to try and help people survive the Covid Pandemic. He is responsible for public health in Mississippi – a state with one of the highest Covid death rates in the country. He struggles with low vaccination rates, rampant misinformation, and hospitals that have overflowed their capacity. On the next Healthy You we talk to Dr. Dobbs about his struggles fighting Covid and learn why he is thankful for a handful of important victories.

The pandemic has made Sven Lindblad, founder of Lindblad Expeditions, think lot about the safety of the passengers traveling on his fleet of small ships.  So the pushback against vaccine mandates in the cruise industry is to him, non sensical. Host Frank Sesno talks to Sven about new Covid protocols - and the joy of travel after lockdown.

The speed with which the news about Covid-19 changes is truly astounding. And now we’re trying to make sense of conflicting information about boosters. Does everyone need boosters? And when should we get them? On the next Healthy You – host Frank Sesno is joined by Dr. Georges Benjamin the Executive Director of the American Public Health Association and Dr. Lynn Goldman, Dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

Today we talk to Dr. Christopher Mores – a global health professor at George Washington University and the director of GW’s new infectious diseases lab.  Mores talks to host Frank Sesno about the risks and extreme transmissibility of the delta variant, the rising incidences of breakthrough infections and his work developing therapeutic treatments with monoclonal antibodies.

Day in and day out, public health workers are fighting Covid-19 on the front lines of their local communities.  And who is there to tell their stories?  Journalists.  Today we talk to Lauren Weber, Midwest correspondent for Kaiser Health News in St. Louis, Missouri and Michelle Smith, a correspondent for the Associated Press, about their award winning series “Underfunded and Under Threat” which features in-depth stories of public health workers battling the pandemic across the U.S.

Hospitalizations and deaths due to Covid-19 are on the rise again in the U.S. On the next Healthy You – Surviving a Pandemic, we talk to Dr. Alice Chen about her efforts to promote vaccination with her organization Made to Save, a national grassroots effort to ensure communities hardest hit by the pandemic have access to the Covid-19 vaccines and accurate timely information. Dr. Chen is also a practicing physician and has served as the executive director of “Doctor’s for America.”

There will be a next pandemic. Right now we are in the position to ask what can we do to better prepare for it. Healthy You – Surviving a Pandemic host Frank Sesno talks to Tara Kirk Sell, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security about communicating more effectively going forward, and ways to mitigate public health disinformation.

If Covid infection rates are going down, do we risk becoming complacent?  Host Frank Sesno joins Dr. Leana Wen for an engaging discussion about the possible resurgence of Covid in unvaccinated sections of the country, the urgency of getting our kids vaccinated, and the increasing polarization of news coverage about the pandemic. 

The city that was once the epicenter of the pandemic is back.  New York City has reopened. Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the New York City health commissioner who led the city at the onset of Covid-19 joins us to share a cautionary tale of the city she knows and loves. 

On today's Healthy You Podcast, we celebrate the start of summer with some timely information about vaccinating your kids against Covid-19.  Today we ask is it possible to travel this summer when your kids are too young to be vaccinated?  Can you send your kids to summer camp? Today we find some answers with Dr. Peter Hotez, the dean of the National School of  Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and the Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. 

The pandemic has shined a spotlight on so many disparities in public health, but few more so than in maternal and infant mortality. This week, Frank speaks to William Moore, lactation expert and the first certified male doula in the state of Minnesota, about how the pandemic has affected the birthing process and what steps we can take to bridge the gap and create a more equitable health system.  

In March of 2020, we couldn't imagine how serious the pandemic would be, and over a year later, we reflect on the toll it's had - in terms of experiences, jobs, and most importantly, lives lost. In dedication to those who have lost their lives to the coronavirus, this episode features the very personal story of Amber and her mom, Marilyn – a story of loss, resilience, and remembrance.