Dr. Carl Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom), a professor of Biology at University of Washington with 20 years of experience studying the emergence of infectious diseases and author of a book on how to spot misinformation, returns to discuss a host of issues, including: Where we are and are headed as a country and a world right now. Are there any positive trends in the midst of all this? How to assess news reports of potential treatment breakthroughs. What are the three main ways testing can be...

Youyang Gu discusses the methods behind his successful coronavirus modeling and what he sees coming in the next few months. He and Ben nerd out on modeling talk. Nate also does a solo news segment discussing mask adherence on planes, testing shortages again becoming an issue, and the “pause” in reopening in Texas. Plus, a comparison of which countries experienced the most impact in long-term care facilities. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in...

It looks like COVID-19 is here to stay in the US. So how can we live our lives with the virus? Ben and Nate discuss a framework to help individuals make decisions about what activities they would be willing to undertake and discuss ways of thinking about whether to do some common activities, plus whether we’d be willing to do them ourselves with the understanding that our situations may differ from others’. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your...

US case counts rise about 30,000 daily. Americans aren’t as unconcerned about COVID as media reports might indicate. NYC struggles to implement contact tracing. Australia will close its borders through the end of the year, China punishes “rumors.” More research has emerged indicating the D614G amino acid change matters. How should we evaluate these reports? Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your podcast player. If you want to support this...

An Italian study shows improvement in fatality rates as treatments improve. A look at US superspreading events at Ft. Benning and in Jacksonville. US authorities begin to embrace compulsory masks.  A basketball game in Vermont before the shutdown was likely a superspreading event, and highlights the dangers of Trump’s indoor rally in Oklahoma. Pakistan’s outbreak appears to be accelerating with no mechanism for stopping it at this point. China’s Beijing outbreak appears to be under...

US economic news: Unemployment supplement won’t be extended, NY reopening, commercial tenants not paying rent. World news on New Zealand, Montenegro, Israel, Denmark. A look at how the virus could be transmitted in bathrooms. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your podcast player. If you want to support this ad-free show please join Nate’s Patreon, Patreon.com/DuncanLeroux. With Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) and Ben Taylor (@ElGee35) Support...

Ben and Nate brainstorm some big ideas and rate how much those ideas would help, how hard they would be to implement, and the level of social and political will that exists to implement them. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your podcast player. If you want to support this ad-free show please join Nate’s Patreon, Patreon.com/DuncanLeroux. With Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) and Ben Taylor (@ElGee35). Articles and studies cited on the show The...

A deep dive on a Japanese study looking at where clusters originated. Antibodies among sailors on the Theodore Roosevelt carrier. Ben works with the data to determine the major trends among countries over the last 25 days. Spain’s reopening amid controversy. President Trump’s planned indoor rally in Tulsa appears to be the first gathering of its kind since countries locked down for the pandemic. Support the show.

New Zealand is back to normal. Catching up on the state of the pandemic in Canada, some positive countermeasures in England, data on India, Africa, and South Korea. China sees a new outbreak in Beijing, with an implication that it could be driven by contaminated food. How much credence should we give this? The troubling states in the US, plus which states are in position to test and trace right now? The Orange County health director implemented mandatory facemasks, then resigns after...

Ben opines on the Missouri Great Clips A long look at the state of the outbreak in Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia We look at how American attitudes regarding the virus are changing in recent weeks and what this means for an outbreak that is not yet contained. A study estimates that cycling of prisoners through Cook County jail was responsible for almost 16% of infections in Illinois through mid-April.  Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your...

The WHO says that asymptomatic transmission isn’t a big deal, but once again they’ve failed to communicate effectively.  New York meets the criteria and reopens. Arizona is facing one of the fastest-growing outbreaks in the US More crowded housing is one of the biggest reasons why Latinos have suffered disproportionately. NYT surveyed 511 epidemiologists to see what activities they would consider safe enough to engage in and when they expect to be able to do so. ER visits are way down...

A discussion of two issues Nate hasn’t seen discussed in the larger conservation on police brutality. A number of reports indicating that people are not using masks, despite increasing evidence of how well they work. A look at an analysis by Trevor Bedford of how much transmission is being seeded by protests and the murky math behind these estimates. US job losses in May were not as bad as feared, how should we interpret this data? A world news roundup, including contrasting France and...

The early reporting of countermeasures in Las Vegas casinos. Are deaths of despair up? Africa’s overlooked coronavirus successes. PPP reform. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your podcast player. If you want to support this ad-free show please join Nate’s Patreon, Patreon.com/DuncanLeroux. With Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) and Ben Taylor (@ElGee35) Support the show.

We take a look at how the devastation of COVID19 has contributed to the current protest environment. What does all-cause mortality data say, how bad is undercounting of deaths in the US? A detailed look at the epidemic in Brazil, Mexico, and Peru.  How bad is the data there, and is Latin America the world’s new hotspot? Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your podcast player. If you want to support this ad-free show please join Nate’s Patreon,...

Bioentrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan was one of the few who immediately saw the potential that coronavirus had to upend our world.  Balaji and Nate discuss and debate that, how the world is changing as a result of coronavirus, and predictions for the years to come, among many other COVID-related topics for different perspective than usual on the show.  Balaji Srinivisan taught vioinformatics at Stanford, and is a bioentrepenteur who built and sold Counsyl, a large genomics company.  Srinivasan...

A number of listeners asked for our opinion on how demonstrations might affect the spread of COVID19.  Also a link to Nate’s wife’s donation-based yoga class to benefit the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.  A new outbreak of over 100 cases in an Israeli school, plus reports of other school-based transmission, shed some doubt on the idea that children do not transmit the virus. A report indicates that Sweden’s economy did a bit better than expected in the first quarter, does that validate its COVID...

Two hairstylists had COVID19, how many patients did they pass it on to? Migrant workers on farms are the next potential superspreading hotspots. CDC bows to political pressure and changes recommendations on singing in religious environments. An Irish study claims “no evidence” of transmission by children, how much can it be relied on? Additional evidence on the role of fomite transmission from China, where mallgoers were infected via indirect contact. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify...

How big of a mistake was it for New York to free up hospital space by sending COVID patients to nursing homes? Where is transmission occurring now in New York? A first look at some ideas for reopening schools out of California. A superspreading event at a wedding in Jordan. A French study indicates an increase in out of hospital heart attacks during lockdown. Indonesia’s epidemic appears to be accelerating. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in...

A fascinating study of transmission in a South African hospital provides more information on how the virus spreads in health care situations. How seriously should we take the claims that surface transmission was a key factor? Health care workers around the globe have faced attacks. A new study indicates that Twitter bots are pushing “re-open” narratives. More on the factors behind Japan’s successful mitigation efforts. China claims to have tested 9 million people in Wuhan, and found 216...

The CDC’s updated guidance indicating reduced risk of transmission from surfaces compared to respiratory transmission, plus a Korean study of an outbreak at a call center indicating little transmission from surfaces.  What is the takeaway from this? New studies indicating how the virus amplifies inflammation while reducing interferon, and how this could provide a method of treatment in the future. Denmark reopened their primary schools over a month ago, how are they doing? Estimating the...

Dr. Natalie Dean, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, specializing in emerging infectious diseases, joins to discuss how she sees the next 6 months of the country’s reopening playing out, how reopening is going so far, what other measures she would like to see us take, Sweden’s handling of the pandemic, the biggest advancements in our understanding of the virus, and what further research she’d like to see done. Then a quick USA and World news roundup, focusing on USA hotspots. Please...

We discuss the concept of “K”, how many people are responsible for how much of the transmission. Evidence indicates that many people do not spread the virus at all while others are responsible for much of transmission. Health visits for severe diseases appear to be way down. CDC report on meatpacking outbreaks. Some US colleges plan to return in the fall. Korea performs over 65,000 tests to find 170s cases related to a nightclubbing district. The reporting around Moderna's vaccine...

Looking at a number of key studies on fecal viability of the virus, transmission within fitness classes in Korea, how long antibodies from SARS1 last, the mechanics of speech transmission, whether recovered patients who test positive are infectious, and seroprevalence among children in Geneva. Then an assessment of reports that data from Florida and Georgia may be unreliable, plus a short world news segment hitting on China and India. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or...

ICU Doctor and Professor at Baylor College of Medicine Dr. Sergio Trevino Castillo joins to discuss what it has been like treating patients with a novel disease and how patient care has evolved since the start of the pandemic. Plus a look at a study showing how long it takes after infection before a patient is likely to test positive and world news from Pakistan, Japan, China, and France. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify  or via RSS Feed, or search “Nate Duncan” in your podcast player. If...

A look at a study which examined what effect wide-scale testing and tracing would have on the disease spread. Another study examine the spread of coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship to determine methods of transmission. How has the disease spread through the US, and what areas remain unaffected as yet? What are the issues in nursing homes that have allowed the disease to spread so quickly? Plus a world news roundup, including what appears to be a huge but untracked outbreak in...