Unwavering Kindness as Our Pandemic Response (with Dr. Michael Osterholm)

not election day. Michelle Obama told us to bring lunch and dinner to the polls. We knew it could take days, possibly weeks, not hours, to know the results, and that's because we had record votes submitted by mail, and those votes take time to count. So let them count. I am tired. I put a lot of energy into this election, and I am excited in part and hopeful. I am disappointed in part and angry. I am tired, but just edging out my fatigue is pride. I am proud of you.

I'm proud of us. We voted in record numbers. We demonstrated that first pillar of what it means to citizen, what we talk about in this show so much. We showed up, we participated, We stood together for each each other despite so many difficulties in an already too difficult year, We the people claimed our power and it's a beautiful thing. Democracy was on the ballot, and democracy, though challenged, is rising. Thank you citizens, and thank you local election officials who

made this possible. Seriously, thank your local election official. Find them on the internet, Send them cupcakes or pizzas, or cupcake pizzas or pizzas made out of cupcakes, whatever it is. They deserve some praise and some gratitude for making something so rough run relatively so smooth. Joe Biden has received more votes for president than any person in US history. Every demographic group turned out. The US experienced record turnout

from everyone. This happened in a season of lawsuits and moves to restrict voting, a season of hurricanes and fires, a season of threats to the postal service, and above all, a season of COVID. That's right, the pandemic isn't over just because you're over it. Regardless of the outcomes of the various elections in the United States, COVID nineteen is here and stronger than ever. We are near a hundred thousand average new cases every day, and that number is climbing.

Our hospitals across the nation are reaching their limits again. Things will get worse before they get better. That's real, y'all. Things will get worse before they get better. Our guests in this episode said, if you don't know someone who has died from COVID, you will. Our guests is literally the one person I trust above all others on COVID matters, and it was my dream, an almost literal dream, that he would agree to be on this show. And thanks

to one of you a listener, thanks Mishoq. Two weeks ago we recorded with him and our live zoom audience as we start to emerge from the intensity of a difficult election. We are landing right in the middle of the most intense version yet of a difficult pandemic. And there is no one in this world I would rather talk to and have you learned from then, Dr Michael Oster. I literally trust this man with my life and our lives.

So I'm gonna pass the mic to myself from two weeks ago, a little bit of audio time travel, and I'll meet you on the other side of this interview with one of the nation's premier and longest serving disease detectives, and you'll see as I do, that he's not just that, he's also a stellar citizen. This pandemic is not over.

It's far from it. In the United States, were well passed two hundred thousand people who are dead, hundreds dying each day, up to a thousand even And COVID nineteen was supposed to bring us all together, supposed to come for us all equally, supposed to unite us, but in so many ways it feels like it hasn't yet. There are voices out there, There are people out there, including probably you, who have helped, who have stepped up, who have citizens hard in this hard moment, and we have

been looking for that good information in this time. I found that information at a very fortunate time in my life. I will never forget the date, March eleven, my flight back from New York City with Elizabeth, the last flight of the year. It seems like it will end up being and in the waiting area for the plane. I believe it's called a gate. So he almost forgot what you call those areas of airports because it's been so long.

We're in the gate area and I come across a friend who's on the same flight, and he said, have you listened to this guy Ulster Home on Joe Rogan? And I said, no, I've never heard of it. And I hadn't listened to Joe Rogan in a while actually, And so we downloaded the YouTube video version, just a little clip and the whole podcast to listen to chill for the flight home. It was not a chill flight home.

It was a very alertness raised moment and we landed as different people than the ones we took off as, because Dr Ulster Home presented pure information with humility but with confidence at the same time. And I have been following him ever since. Is my primary source of trusted information in this time. If you've been listening to me on any platform, you know that Dr oh is my go to guy. It has been really beautiful to hear his podcast, The Ulster Home Update, which I encourage everyone

to subscribe to. It's the once a week must listen on this subject. And to give a little meat on the bones of this introduction, Dr Michael Olster Holme is an American epidemiologist. He's a Regent's professor and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the U. S State Department.

He's the author of the New York Times best selling two thousand seventeen book Deadliest Enemy, Our War against Killer Germs, and in my opinion, he is citizening so hard on behalf of all of us right now. So welcome Dr Michael Osterholm, and thank you as you do with your show. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule to spend time with us. Well, thank you.

And I want to be really clear about this. You know, any time you're on a program, you're supposed to be polite and thank the individual inviting you all those kinds of things. This is not what these words are about. This is a true, sincere, and very honest thank you to you for the message you've been bringing to this topic, because what you've added is something so much more important than just the facts. It's the context. It's the way

we're going to get through this. So I can tell you at our center at the University Minnesota, you're one of our heroes We've listened to you, we follow you, and I've learned a great deal from you. So I just want to thank you for that. And it takes a bit to teach an old man, but you've been doing a pretty good job. So thank you. Thank you

for that. In the beginning, dr Ulsterholme, of this pandemic hitting the United States, what was your hope for how the people and the government of this country would react. Give me your best case scenario that you were hoping we step into. Yeah, well, maybe if I could just even take a step back from that to give you

some context to where we got into that leaf. You know, our center began following the situation the last week of December, and you know, we have our ears and eyes open all the time for what is going on around the world caused by an infectious disease, and we recognized that last week of December, something very unusual and very alarming

was happening in Wuhan, China. Within the first week of January, it became clear that it was not being caused by an influenza virus, and that likely was being caused by a coronavirus, which actually, believe it or not, temporarily gave me some hope in a way that I otherwise might

not have. And that is because I've been quite involved with working on coronavirus infections, having been quite involved with the stars response that this country had as well as the world back in two thousand three to that severe acute respiratory distress sunder. And we learned in that pandemic almost kind of event was the fact that we could control those virus because it is one that you did not become highly infectious till the second week of your infection.

So if we could identify you early, we could get you isolated in a hospital make sure you didn't transmit anyone else. So based on that, when we saw Wolhan, we thought, well, you know what, if this is a coronavirus, we just have to identify all the clinically ill patients as soon as possible, isolate them, and then once we do, we will be able to stop this and we'll find the animal reservoir. Well. By January tenth, it became clear to us, wait a minute, something is very different here.

This is not just another coronavirus infection like that people were getting in effective. It looked like from having contact with people who weren't sick, people who were transmitting the virus with minimal symptoms not later on, and by January it would be abundantly clear to us with transmission. Now it occurred in multiple Asian countries, and that we were seeing this pattern emerge, we went, oh, my, this is now going to cause the next pandemic in the world.

It's not going to be good. It's going to be a serious challenge, and so we tried to get the world to wake up. At that point, we put a statement out saying in January, this was going to cause the next worldwide pandemic. And my first reaction, as you were asking about, was why over the course of the next month that it takes so long for people to actually buy into this, because it really postponed. Are coming

to grips with what we needed to do. In February, I published an op ed in The New York Times again saying this is a pandemic. It's coming, get ready, we have to start doing with it. And I caught so much negative feedback from saying, you know, you're just scaring that a lot of us don't do that. Okay, this flew is much worse, and it wasn't really until several weeks later that we finally started to see the body of Public Health and medicine and the general public

start to understand this. And it was at that point I went from despair that we weren't understanding as to want us saying, Okay, now we get it. Now we're gonna do something about this, and we're going to devel up and you know, plans or what we need to do to detect it in our communities, how to treat patients, how to limit its transmission. And that's where I did have a great hope that we're going to do much

more than ultimately we ever did. Thank you for the first background to can take us all the way back to December, which it feels like fifty years ago, when when you rewind just not even quite a year. I have been very frustrated by the months since March, since everyone knew and publicly knew what needed to happen, and I think a lot of us have been drowning in

the bad news. And I want to know from you what have you seen during this time, especially even now that gives you hope that we can still rise to the occasion. What are you proud of? In the response? Because I'm searching it it's very hard to find. Well, and thank you, and let me add context to this because I'm like you in the sense that you know, I approached this as someone who has had a role

in the last five presidential administrations. I serve to Republican governors, to in democratic governors, one independent government Minnesota as a state ulogist over the years. You know, the public close contacts have little understanding of my partisan politics of ourity. My job is just to be an umpire and calls

balls and strikes. So today I'll do that for you. Also, you know it's not partisan, But I have to say that as we talk about this, the one thing that has given me so much hope is something you've experienced,

and that is with our podcast. We now have had many hundreds of thousands of listeners and the communications we hear from them, people still believe, in their heart of hearts, as bad as this virus is and what it's doing, kindness, empathy, understanding will win the day, and they just want that type of context. We'll take the facts, will take the hard information, but how can we do this with understanding

how can we reach out? And you know, I've been working now for the better part of six weeks on these podcasts to actually build a whole movement of what I call the kindness pandemic, to take on the terrible virus pandemic. And so I think that there are many many people who want to help however they can. They will take the scientific information, they will take the medicine of what we need to do, but they don't want

to miss out on the understanding. Know, if there was ever a time now it should be humankind versus of virus, not humans versus humans. It is now. And I think that has been so encouraging to me. The number of emails, a number of follow ups we get from the people who listen, have just given my hope such a strong backing. And uh and that's why I started coming on this show today was really important for me and for our group, because you too understand that how important that whole concept is.

And that's why I'm here. Let the kindness pandemic wash across the land. How do you stay connected to the human part of this story? A lot of us are inundated with numbers and trailing seven day moving averages and the death rate for the a that's on the home page. There's so many of our news organizations and you've been in this work for decades, So how do you stay connected to the people behind all these numbers. Well, first, I work with an incredible team of people who every

day remind us that these are not numbers. These are people, These are loved ones, These are someone's very special person in their life. And so you know, I I we try never to forget that. And it's not like you have to try, it's just a reminder of put it in context. And then you know, it's just reaching out to people because you know, kindness is so much easier to do. It's like love. The more you give away, the more you have. And I think that you know,

in this time, this is what sustains me. You know, this is what keeps me from going to bed at night and saying to myself, I can't get up in the morning and do this one more time. It's just the opposite. I gotta get up, I want to get up.

I gotta be there. You know, yesterday I recorded a podcast live and we started a new part of the podcast where we're now each week detailing and living in moral you might say someone who has died recently of COVID nineteen and just telling their story, because there are so many stories to tell, And so I took the prerogative to tell a story about somebody from my own

small hometown in Iowa. An individual who had had a distinguished your career in the Air Force, retired as lieutenant colonel, came back to my little hometown in Iowa and took over the family greenhouse, and over the course of several decades he was responsible for the flowers that lit up our town. Where they were for funerals, where they were for weddings, where they were for any other special occasions. But what I remember most about him was the fact that my mother and I come from a family of

very little means. Was a very proud, good Irish Catholic woman, Abbey Ryan. And you know, every Easter I would say about my money from my paper out to go and buy a corsage for her to go to Eastern mass And she was so proud to wear that. It could have been twenty below zero and she would have made sure her dress had no code on it so that corsage was standing out there, and I used to go up and get that corsage every Easter Friday from Jim,

like a gentleman who died in September. Being able to tell that story again last night, being able to actually share this was not a man that died from COVID, This was my friend. This was my somebody who had a major influence in my life, who brought something. And I think we just don't forget that. If we don't forget that, there are so many people, and if you don't know somebody who's died at COVID already, I'm sorry

to tell you what you will. We're going to see an increasing number of people who are becoming what we call long haulers, people who are not necessarily that ill early in their illness with COVID nineteen. In fact, manyum have very mild symptoms. They're often other wise previously healthy young adults, and unfortunately ten of these people are going on and developing a very very severe syndrome, a collection

of signs and symptoms. Fifth or six weeks, they're almost disabled, they're on oxygen in some cases, their X rays of their hearts and their lungs look terrible, and they have what is in essence of severe chronic fatigue syndrome. Like picture. You know, we need to be there for these people. It's not just the people who are in our hospitals and intensive care units. And so I think now is the time where if we let kind of shine, you know, like I said a moment ago, the more you give away,

the more you have, the better you feel. And so that's how I stay connected is just understanding these people and knowing that every one of these numbers is someone's loved one. Every one of these numbers is somebody who made a difference, and that's what we can never forget. You said something there about if you don't know someone who's died of COVID, you will that feel is like a very depressing forecast for the path of this disease.

Can you expand on that a little bit in terms of what you see over the next year that we should all be preparing ourselves for. Well, first of all, here's your opportunity. Let me I'll cover that. I hope no one in your life does die from COVID, but the chances are increasing with increasing numbers they will. So you know what, treat everybody around you as if today was the day before they die, and you know what, almost none of them will, but boy, everyone will be

better for it. Now. The reason I say to the dying part is because in fact, we're seeing the case numbers go up precipitously right now. What's happening, Well, first of all, pandemic fatigue has set in. People are saying, I've been doing this for long enough. I need to be out, I need to be with people. And I understand that. That's not to say that that's not a reality, but also understand the consequence of someone's behaviors. We see

college students coming back to school. That's great, but their socializing means that transmission is sometimes pretty dramatic and the challenges Many of these people won't go on to be hospitalized or serious illnesses. They will go on potentially and developed this longhauler condition. But what really also is important is they transmit this virus to their mom and dad, to their gramp and grammar, to the older colleagues they

work with, and so that's a channel. And then finally, this category that I call pandemic anger, it's up to a third of the people of this country right now believe that this pandemic is a hoax. They believe it's some kind of politically motivated action to impact negatively on someone. And I don't understand that. You don't have to look far to see the pain and suffering. But if you add this all up, that means we're going to see

a lot of additional transmission. Today we estimate that about ten percent of the US population has been infected by this virus. That's all, for all the pain and suffering, economic disruption, and death, we won't see this virus slowed down transmission until it gets to fifty of the population, and then only then it slows down transmission. It doesn't stop, and so we've got a long ways to go now.

Our hope is that we can keep people from becoming infected having to develop their immunity that way, and that we can see vaccines coming forward early next year into the Midsummer that can actually be administered that will help protect us. And that's the way we want to find ourselves becoming immune to this virus, not through some illness. And the one thing I covered in my recent podcast, As we get closer and closer to the holidays, think

about that for yourself. You don't want to be the reason mom or Dad or gramp and Grammar get infected because you came home not knowing that you were carrying the virus and they died. We have far too many examples just like that. I want to pick up on the thread of it doesn't have to be this way, that there are things we can do. And you've been clear and proactive, and I appreciate that about the disproportionate impact, so you know more than most how this isn't fair.

What can we do? What are you calling on us to do collectively to improve the situation beyond what you've already said? Well, you know, and I don't mean to sound trite by saying this, but we will be held accountable if we don't take advantage of this crisis to understand the lack of what I would call just human decency when it comes to life and who we want to be as a society. Racial disparity, socio economic issues are by themselves, I think such an underappreciated issue by

far too many. We're seeing more and more understanding of that, and unfortunately it happens through painful events. But I think this disease is putting a spotlight on this, you know why and how can we have such disproportionate impact. Well, you know, first of all, we have to understand that this pandemic is not only cruel, but in some ways

it's so unfair. And what I mean by that is it has been shoulder by the black brown in indigenous communities in ways that so many others haven't had to know. You know, when you're an essential worker and you don't have a choice whether you can go to work or not you have to go to work, when you're in a living condition where you have three generational families living in a two better apartment and you're supposed to isolate yourself from mom and dad or grandpa and grandma and

your kids when you get infected. Um. You know, I could go through a litany of these kinds of experiences that I think have been so challenging because they really have created this racial and I think all barrier that I think is such a problem. You know, I must say,

you know, I was very challenged. My emotions were on the boiling edge when we saw large outbreaks and meat packing plants in this country in the early part of the pandemic, and for which if you know who is working shoulder to shoulder incredible hours, very very tough work.

It was communities of black, brown, and indigenous populations, and when they were forced to go back to work as essential workers, even though transmission was widely spreading in that meat packing facility as they worked shoulder to shoulder, and then for some states to not only just declare them essential workers, but that if they were to not go back to work out of fear of contracting the virus and then possibly of bringing it home to a loved

one that could be having risk factors for serious disease, they didn't get their unemployment. That was just wrong, wrong, And so I think that what we need to do is understand the lessons that this pandemic has taught us about the goodness of being human, and that, you know, if there is anyone in our country who is suffering from disparities, we all suffer, and I hope that we can shine a positive light on how to change this. You know, this isn't us versus them. We are all

together in this. And so if there's a silver lining to this very dark cloud, is one of them, is just that let's shine this light on it. Let's make it loud and clear what happened and why and what

can we do about it? You know, imagine if this is your child or your aunt or uncle who are living in that two bedroom apartment with three generations of people, and because you did go to your job every day and you took public transit and you are an essential worker, and now you're coming home infected, how do you bubble protect them? You can't in that setting, in any meaningful way.

You can't. That shouldn't happen like that. So I hope that that we take this opportunity to take a step back and look not just as our bodies as something that can get infect of the virus, we look at our souls something about how do we right the wrongs that I think our society continues to suffer. Mm hmm. I thought you were gonna say wear masks. That was

way more impressive and deeper, deeper work. Well, I think you should do that too, But I think you know, we can't hide behind the masks, as you well know, we have to start looking at our souls and asking ourselves, you know, as citizens, what does this mean? The work that you do when your team does depends on the rest of us listening and uh and doing our part as citizens as well. I wanted to ask you, how do you think about our power as citizens and what

do you want to see more of from us? You know, the longest journey starts with the first step, So how do we help educate the public about What you can do is simply to protect yourself. You know, if you're gonna spend a lot of time in large social gathering together indoors, you put yourself at real risk for getting

the virus. And I can say, but I can't not do that, you know, I look back on generations before us and think about some of the wars World War two and others where people sacrifice for years in major ways, putting their life on the line to get us somewhere. We're not asking to do that. But if you can just wait and minimize the risk you have until we have vaccines, that's going to be everything in terms of preventing transmission. If you can never forget about the kindness.

You know, we're asking so many people to bubble themselves up so they don't put themselves at risk, because if they did get infected, they have a great likelihood of having a very severe case. But think how lonely that can be. Reach out to these people, even if you can't physically hug them, Go to their house, stand outside their door, have a conversation, spend time on the phone with them, help them out however you can. Maybe you're the one that can go deliver some product or something

that they need. You know, our democracy is critical, it is so critical, and today we know the poll workers are some of the bravest people we have out there working. Go help out with that. That's the kind of thing If we do that, that's feeds our soul, that doesn't let the virus defeat us. And then finally, we have to as a society address head on racial inequality and disparities. And let's use this as a positive example to shine light and a terrible thing to actually make a difference.

I'm an old man, you know, I don't have a lot of years left in this business, okay, But I want a world where my kids and grandkids grow up where the things that we have had to experience now don't occur in the future, whether they be pandemics or whether they be some of the other social ills. And so I think all of that is what we need to be doing right now, and I ask you to

be a part of each one. Reduce the risk of the transmission virus, reach out to others who are hurting, and I think now how we'll get actively involved so that we can deal with the racial disparities and move this to a higher place in the world. As you are a doctor, I will infer that as a prescription and encourage us all to take that medicine. That's very sound. There's a question we like to ask all of our guests, and it comes back to the title of this show

and this word citizen. We interpret this word citizen less about legal status or any kind of status, to be honest, and more as a verb as actions. If you are to interpret the word citizen as a verb in that way, what is your definition of what it means to citizen? Well, first of all, it's to open your heart. Two, whatever the causes that we need to address, the fact that you're even on this webinar today by itself is a very substantial commitment to listening and understanding and thinking about

this issue. Second of all, its action. You have to be there with action. It's wonderful to intellectualize and to, you know, basically, take all this information in and you know, and kind of form thoughts and feelings, but act then, whether it's being kind, whether it's you know, being safe, whether it's helping to organize communities around certain issues that will bring all of us to a better place, particularly

when it comes to the issues of inequality. So I think citizenship, in my mind and citizens in general, is about action. And none of us are going to necessarily ever change the world, but collectively we can do a lot. And so I also say, don't ever think you can't make a contribution in our little group at sid Rap. You know, we're just a small little center in the middle of nowhere in Minnesota, and we're trying to make a difference and we're not gonna let anybody tell us

we can. And I think that's what citizens have to feel. As a citizen, feel like you can make a difference and don't anybody tell you can, and back it up not only with commitment, with action. You knock that out of the park. Dr Austhen, that was really I've been listen. I've been listening to you, man, I've been listening to you. But that was your words said it was, but you know, but I think this is the collective feeling. I mean,

I think this is what's important here. We have a collective feeling here that we all can understand and resonate with. Let's grow that. Let's grow that. Let's take that out and plant it, just like we're planting seeds, and let's grow it. And let this pandemic not just be a painful experience, but let it be a reason why we can do these things. And I believe in my heart of hearts that we can do this. I do believe it. I'm gonna grow this moment in the show to encompass

voices beyond mine. We like to involve a live audience before or the podcast goes out to those who listen on demand, and we have a live question from Priya. Hi. Thank you so much, Dr asked Home for your work and for being here with us today. I love the kindness pandemic idea. I am Pria Kumar. I'm from Portland, Oregon. I am a psychiatrist, so I wanted to ask about kind of the mental health secondary pandemic that we have been seeing. I'm a psychiatrist, so I have seen the depression,

the anxiety, the PTSD symptoms. I've seen depression with people who are struggling with the kind of chronic fatigue that they have gotten from COVID nineteen, and it's gotten to the point, I think where even some people have questioned lockdown measures whether that's good or bad, given how it's affecting our mental health, which I think is misguided, and I think we can work around that. But I would love to kind of get yours as people who are

listening to this podcast. We're probably all doing what we need to do in terms of lessening the risk of virus transmission, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on taking care of our mental health as well. Blowing that pandemic. Well, thank you, And I could not be a stronger supporter of the sense that we have to deal with both the virus itself and the mental health aspects of it.

That is what's all about being human. Let me just back up and say, you know, a lot of people I think have a misconception there are these lockdowns that are occurring, but you know, we really have gotten away from any of the kinds of you can't leave your home or you can't do these things, and what it is is the actual occurrence of the pandemic that has

us afraid. If you're afraid to go into a public place, if you're afraid to go to church, if you're afraid to do a lot of things you don't, you can't. And so this is where controlling the virus transmission is really really important. Now having said that, there are things we need to do. For example, like I think bars and restaurants have been a place for major transmission. I've not been to a bar restaurants since March. I missed

it immensely. But what I also understand of the people's whose lives have been adversely impacted, the owners of the

restaurants and bars, the people who worked there. I wrote an up ed piece in The New York Times in August two with Neil cash Carry, the president of the Minneapolistetter Reserve Bank, in which we made the strong argument that to really get this virus better under control and to reduce it where people were much less afraid to go into public places, was the fact that we needed to drive down transmission that was going to require us

to be distanced for several weeks. And if we had done that back then we would be in a very different place today. And at the same time, we need to take care of people. This is where the part that gets missed. The savings rate in the United States has gone from eight percent too during the course of this pandemic, absolutely unheard of. We could borrow the money our government could from ourselves and pay us back ourselves with interest to pay for all these people whose lives

have been impacted in such a negative way. And I know today, if you don't have enough money to pay for the roof over your head or food on your table, you've got kids you have to deal with. You know, you're struggling. That just adds to the mental health trauma. So our whole plan was, if it is a bar, restaurant or a business like that that's adversely affected, pay the people for what's happening, keep them whole, keep our government's whole, keep our colleges and university's whole. And it's

borrowing an investment in ourselves. And if you look at the economic models, we actually do much better over the long run in recovering that money back by bringing society back up in a hopeful manner. So I would just say this is part of the plan that I talked about a compassionate, kind, caring response to this actually turns out to be the financially best response to this. And that's what we've missed. And so while we see them debating in Washington, do you see about, you know, getting

relief back out to the public. What a missed opportunity to help us through. Imagine if you only your clients and I are only making an assumption. One of the challenges they have, besides the loneliness, is the fear of financial ruin and the fact that they don't have money to pay for the food on their table. Imagine if we could take that off the table. And we should be able to do that as a nation. And I

want to end by saying thank you. You know, I had dedicated one of my podcasts to the mental health support in our communities as people like you that are more critical now than ever. And you know it was funny because you know, I made a cobbint of this thing about the fact, you know, thank god I had had my therapist the thirty years. She's amazing, and I had more men contact mus that you actually said that in public, that you see a therapist. I see one.

Oh my god, I'm I'm embarrassed let anybody know, and I'm saying saying why we all need that help. You know, we all need to be there. So all the men I'm here who have seen the therapist don't be afraid to acknowledge it, and you know, really make the case that this is a good thing. This is mental health. Just like we want to have our physical health improve, we want to improve our mental health. So thank you

very very much for the question. And I hope that gives you a sense of why I think you're right on the mark. Thank you prea for that. If you're up, Hi, Yes, I'm Eve Blossom and I'm in San Francisco and I focus on digital health and startups and still value. Yeah, I've been following your weekly updates. Thank goodness. It's refreshing to have someone like you do weekly updates. And I'm just I wanted to ask if you're committed to doing it throughout the whole pandemic longer, no matter how long

that will be. And also I just wanted to mention how I love I'm a big springste fan, so I really loved how you brought into Springstel's new music into one of your Well, thank you for your very very kind comedy. First of all, I love music, okay, So I'm committed to these, okay, and so that's great. I think that one of the reasons I can't let this virus get me, you know, myself. It's that old line, don't look back. They might be gaining on you, you

know kind of thing. I gotta do. These podcasts gives me a purpose, you know. So, so I'm going to keep doing this as long as I possibly can, and for as long as it's helpful to the public. And I work with the most amazing team of people at sid RAP who whope produce this thing. They make it possible for me to do it. They may be possible to be here. So yeah, I'll keep doing it for as long as people find it useful. And you know, I want to be here to celebrate when we get

over this virus. I want to be at that celebration. I'll invite you all to it. Okay, Well, we'll get you all there. We'll have one heck of it to I'm and it's our beat the virus party. Okay, We're gonna do it, So thank you, and we'll keep We'll keep plugging away at it. Thank you for that Eve, and I look forward to that party already. Know what it looks like. It's that scene from the Matrix when they're all underground and it's like a rave and its way too close to each other. It's just like so

many shared droplet. Can I tell a very brief story here. I give you hope and the fact that my niece who I'm very close to, her husband lost their house in Santa the Santa Clara fire almost seven weeks ago. It was tragic. They barely got out. They had their dog, they couldn't find their cat. They had to leave it. The daughters, the three grandnieces were traumatized. Beyond it. I can tell you make a long story short. Two weeks ago somebody thought they saw it up there. Last week

they actually captured alive trap with food. How it survived for six weeks after that severe fire is incredible. And her name is Mama Kitty, and mom and Kitty should give us all hope that if a cat can do that, survived that fire and live for six weeks without food and water a man, anything's possible. So I have hope. Awesome Mama kitty or we have one more live question came in under the wire. This is a family member

of mine, my uncle. Uh Danna Robinson. Okay, I'm back in the gym now area, Washington, d C. My name is Dana Robinson. They've just allowed the gym's in the hospitals to initiate social distancing in the gym. I've been waiting for that. I didn't think it was gonna come until it looks very, very different. You're used to see in fifty people in the gym, Now you only see ten. Do you think that's safe or you think I should

wait until we get that vaccine. Well, first of all, let me say that we do know that you can get into our air transmission in a relatively smaller room setting, and so I would say, you know, if you are at high risk of having a very serious case of COVID nineteam, I might still take a pass for a while on this. But I think the idea in the gym is a good thing. Physically, you want to be active, and that's a very good thing to be out and about.

So what I would do is add a little twist to that and find out the time of the day that the least number of people are there and then go then and then that's your way of accommodating and making it as safe for yourself as possible. So but the big thing is you know you're taking care of yourself, You're thinking about it in the right way. This is the smart decisions. They're gonna allow a lot of people

to avoid getting infected. So congratulations. And some other time we tell I'd love to hear a lot of stories about your relative here. Okay, but we'll wait and say about that one. Okay, well, say will definitely save that one. Thank you again, I heard a lot of good things from you. I'd summarize it as as be safe, be kind, and be active is one way to put it. Thank you, just thank you for having me. Thank you for what you do well staying together. Okay, and let's get through

this with a pandemic of kindness. And again, thank you so much for having me and for all what you're doing out there. Appreciate We appreciate you too. Good luck and we're we're rooting for you're rooting for us. All appreciate you. Dr Mike Oster home from sid rap in the great state of Minnesota. That was something. I'm not sure if I should call him Dr oster Home or Dr Wokester Home. Yeah, I did it. Yeah, I'm corny. What are you gonna do about it? Nothing because it's

already recorded. So just accepted Dr Michael Wokester Home host privilege. Okay, settled down Bariton day. The way that Dr oster Holme weaved in our opportunity and obligation to deal with racial disparities and inequality, that was impressive and honestly a bit unexpected. Major thanks to Dr Mike oster Home and his team at sid RAP, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Thanks for joining and reminding us to be safe, be kind, and be active.

You can follow Dr ulster Home on Twitter M t oster Home O S T E R H O l M, or follow at sid RAP c I D R A P on the socials and visit the website sid RAP dot you m in as in University of Minnesota dot E D you like we always do. We're gonna post this episode of transcript, show notes and more at how to citizen dot com. I'm gonna ask a special favor on this one because I think this is a public health value to everyone. Please share this episode with everyone

you know. They don't have to dig the whole series, but let them listen to this one and listen to Dr Ulster Home. He's been such a straight shooter throughout this whole thing, and I think if more people heard him and followed what he said, more of us would make it through this whole Now time for some action on the internal front. I want you to subscribe to the Ulster Home Update COVID nineteen Michael Ulster Holmes podcast. You can find it wherever podcasts are found, search for

it online. The U R role is a mess, so I'm not gonna say it out loud, but if you see the show notes on your podcast app, you should just be able to click the link there. I want you to think about the worst and the best for you in this pandemic, Like, what's the worst thing you've experienced, Maybe you lost a job, maybe you lost a person. Make a little space to grieve and acknowledge that. And on the flip side, what's the best thing that's happened

to you during this pandemic? Have you had more quality time with your friends? Did you finally clean your garage? I don't care how big or small the thing is. Embrace it. Embrace the positives and the negatives of this COVID year. We are in without guilt, without shame, and know that you are not alone in that. I want you to recommit to suppressing this virus. We can do this,

but we all need to show up to this. We know it's hard, we're tired, and we're angry, but I want us to remember why we are making these sacrifices. It's not to satisfy a public health bureaucrat. We make these sacrifices to save lives. We make them to keep our health care system from being overrun, which we all need, whether we have COVID or not. Keep physical just and wear masks, wash hands. Let's dig deep and rediscover the spirit of shared sacrifice that has enabled us to rise

to other difficult moments in our past. I'm not asking you to go overseas to enlist in the armed services. I'm not asking you to melt down all your spare copper. I'm asking you to work with each other, to help each other and recommit to that because I'm tired too. I'm not sitting up here just like adhering to everything easily. It is exhausting, but we can do this. We must do this all right. On the external action front, if you can support a local COVID relief fund, Dr Osterholme

talked about the increase savings rate. Many of us are suffering extraordinarily financially. Some of us are doing much better or good enough and can spare something. So I want you to search in your search engine of choice for donate COVID relief fund and then the name of your city. Find a way to support someone who needs it right now and make it easier for them to help us all stay safe. Reach out to someone who's isolated. This

comes right from Dr Ulster home. There are so many of us who've had to retreat from company, from each other for our health. Check in on those people, give them a call, a video chat, stop by safely distantly to let them know that they're not in fact alone because you're there. And finally, be kind and spread that pandemic of kindness to counter the pandemic of fear, the pandemic of COVID. Do something nice and unexpected for someone today.

Anyone small is okay. Just do it, and then do something else for someone else tomorrow and repeat that and tell us about it. Hit us up, tell someone about to put it on the hashtag, email us action how to citizen dot Com Stretch beyond your comfort zone that we're struggling through in these unprecedented times. We're in a hard moment and I acknowledge that. But we're here so we can still do and we must. We must show up and invest in each other, know our power, and

serve the many, not the few. Let's do this for each other. Thank you. As always, we welcome your contributions, your thoughts, comments at how to citizen dot com. You can visit the website. How does citizen dot com Find me online? Wherever barrattone day? The user name is found? That is me, Patreon, Instagram, everywhere. I got them all and you can text me two to eight nine four four. Put the words citizen in there so I know how

you found me. Congratulations. We made it through another election, and we are going to make it through this pandemic if we do it together. How does Citizen with Barton Day as a production of I Heart Radio Podcasts, Executive produced by Miles Gray, Nick Stump, Elizabeth Stewart and Barratton day Thurston. Produced by Joel Smith, Edited by Justin Smith. Powered by you