Gilead Sciences announced today that it will charge the U.S. government and other developed countries $390 per vial for its coronavirus-fighting drug remdesivir. That begins to answer a big question as drug companies race to find treatments and develop vaccines for the virus: How much will it cost us? But Riley Griffin and Emma Court report that the Pharmaceutical industry is hoping Covid-19 will give it a chance to rebrand; and get the focus off drug prices. See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...
Jun 29, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 68
Around the world, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been a hotbed for Covid-19 outbreaks. Because older people are particularly vulnerable, the facilities have had some of the deadliest outcomes during the pandemic. But some nursing homes have done much better than others at containing the virus. Angelica LaVito reports on a Seattle-area assisted living company that learned the lessons of the pandemic early, and has managed to keep outbreaks from raging out of control. See omnyst...
Jun 26, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 67
In Houston, Texas, new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging. Some experts expect the virus outbreak to swamp the city’s medical infrastructure by July 4th. Emma Court and Joe Carroll report that if cases keep rising at their current pace in Harris County, which includes Houston, they will triple or quadruple by mid-July. The city’s hospital system may not be able to manage the crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 25, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 66
The NBA is giving players the option to wear a device that tracks their health data when basketball games begin this July. The device - called an Oura Ring - can measure things like the body’s temperature and heart rate. The hope is that it could provide the league with early warning signs that someone may have contracted an illness like COVID-19. Bloomberg reporter Kristen V. Brown reports that the move is part of a larger conversation about whether or not wearable technology like a Fitbit or a...
Jun 24, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 65
More than six months into a shape-shifting pandemic that’s killed more than 454,000 people worldwide, it’s clear we are losing the battle against the outbreak. Most experts believe an effective vaccine won’t be ready until well into 2021. So how do we adjust our thinking from beating the virus, to coexisting with it? Michelle Fay Cortez discusses the next phase of the virus, and what public health professionals say we have to do to survive it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 23, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 64
As soon as the Coronavirus became a pandemic, people began making parallels to the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918, and reaching even further back to the black death of the middle ages. It makes sense--past pandemics may be our only reference point for whole populations being stricken with illness. But they can also tell us a lot about how economies recover after outbreaks. From the Odd Lots podcast, Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal talk to Jamie Catherwood, an expert in finance history, about how ...
Jun 22, 2020•15 min•Season 5Ep. 63
If there’s one simple technology that has come to the forefront during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s the face mask. Special masks called respirators are designed to prevent doctors and nurses from catching the virus when they treat infected people. But not all respirators do what they’re labelled to. Fakes and shoddy products abound. And you can’t always tell how many particles a mask can filter just by looking at it. Naomi Kresge reported on how you catch a fake mask – and the lengths one Germ...
Jun 19, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 62
Long before the Covid pandemic, another global health disaster was brewing, threatening to kill millions of people annually. Superbugs – germs even our most potent antibiotics can’t defeat – pose a massive challenge to human health and wellbeing. The coronavirus, of course, isn’t stopped by antibiotics, which target bacteria. Even so, antibiotics have been used liberally for Covid-19 patients. Jason Gale reports that could worsen the superbug crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...
Jun 18, 2020•11 min•Season 5Ep. 61
It’s now relatively easy to get tested to see if you carry the antibodies for Covid-19. Urgent Care centers and many doctor’s offices are offering the tests widely. But the science is still out on whether or not people who have had Covid-19 become immune to it. Not to mention the possibility that the test you take may not be accurate. Reporter Kristen V. Brown tries to answer the question: is it worth taking the test at all? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 17, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 60
As the pandemic spreads around the world, new hotspots are emerging. Coronavirus is spiking in Brazil, Mexico, Peru and elsewhere, and health experts have called Latin America the new epicenter of the pandemic. But the impact has been uneven. Some countries have successfully slowed the rate of new infections; others see that rate continuing to climb. Jason Gale spoke with the World Health Organization’s top official for the Americas to find out what makes some populations especially vulnerable. ...
Jun 16, 2020•12 min•Season 5Ep. 59
Covid-19 is on the rise around the country. Texas and Florida, two of the most populous U.S. states, reported record numbers of new infections on Sunday. The recent surge in those states and others has led public-health officials to worry that reopening the economy has come at too grave a cost. What's clear is that between reopening policies, weariness with staying home, and large protests around the country, Americans are moving around and interacting more than they have in months. Emma Court h...
Jun 15, 2020•15 min•Season 5Ep. 58
When the country went into lockdown this spring, it forced kids to adapt to a new life at home. The adjustment for them--and their parents -- has been huge. Experts still aren’t sure what will happen in the upcoming school year, meaning kids could be living in quarantine for much longer. Kristen V. Brown reports on what we how children are coping with the virus so far. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 12, 2020•10 min•Season 5Ep. 57
The coronavirus is hitting Latin America in ways unseen in the developed world. In Mexico, Covid-19 is savaging a health care system that was already inadequate. Doctors and nurses in Mexico say they lack masks and gloves. Hospitals are at 80% capacity in Mexico City. More than 20,000 health care workers have caught the virus. Nacha Cattan reports on what happens when a crisis hits a system that was unprepared, and underfunded, in the best of times. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...
Jun 11, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 56
A top World Health Organization official sparked a controversy earlier this week when she said cases of asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 spreading the virus are "very rare.” She later clarified her remarks. That provided a moment to explore the debate over so-called silent spreaders -- people who don't get sick after they're infected with the virus -- and their role in its transmission. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 10, 2020•11 min•Season 5Ep. 55
Never in the modern scientific era have so many people been infected with the same virus in such a short period of time. For many survivors of coronavirus, symptoms hang on for weeks or even months. Bloomberg senior editor Jason Gale reports on efforts for finding ways to prevent such cases of post-Covid-19 illness in the future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 09, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 53
The controversial drug is back in the news. In the early days of the pandemic, President Trump and some doctors touted it as an effective treatment. But studies soon discredited the treatment. Now, in an unexpected twist, some research papers dismissing the drug have also been thrown in doubt. So how useful is Hydroxychloroquine and how reliable are the reviews we rely on to assess a drug's safety? Laura Carlson speaks to Bloomberg reporters Michelle Cortez and Robert Langreth for answers. See o...
Jun 08, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 52
Madrid was one of Europe’s hardest hit cities by the coronavirus, but now it's coming back to life. We explore how the reopening is going as Bloomberg reporter Jeannette Neumann talks to owners of some of the hundreds of bars, restaurants, and hotels that dot the city. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 05, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 51
Social distancing has been the guiding principle in how to open up the U.S. amid the pandemic. But no one could have foreseen the densely-packed protests after George Floyd’s death in police custody. Could the protests now set off a new wave of infections? Bloomberg’s Michelle Cortez spoke to scientists about that possibility. What they have to say is not reassuring. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 04, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 50
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley insists that the long-delayed drug-price bill he is co-sponsoring will get a vote this year. Grassley worries that if the bill doesn't pass, drugmakers will charge whatever they want for Covid-19 related drugs. But drug lobbyists are counting on the coronavirus making drug pricing reform obsolete. Emma Court and Riley Griffin spoke to Senator Grassley about the bill. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 03, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 49
At least 21,000 New Yorkers are dead from Covid-19, with a few dozen added to the city’s count every day. The city’s deaths are 10 times those of Los Angeles County’s. They’ve surpassed the 16,000 lives lost in Italy’s hard-hit Lombardy region. Drew Armstrong reviewed the statements of experts, officials, and politicians to better understand the root causes of New York City’s devastating outbreak. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 02, 2020•12 min•Season 5Ep. 48
Dogs have long had a positive link with human health. Science has shown that the benefits of dog ownership extend from reducing the risk of schizophrenia to improving cardiovascular health. But Jason Gale reports they may have other, untapped powers to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Plus: How coronavirus created the conditions for the recent nationwide protests. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 01, 2020•11 min•Season 5Ep. 47
Scientists and politicians have wondered for months whether the coronavirus would diminish, if not disappear entirely, over the summer. As the weather heats up in the Northern Hemisphere, and cools down in the Southern part of the world Jason Gale talked to one of America’s most respected public health experts to understand the facts about the virus in warm weather. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 29, 2020•11 min•Season 5Ep. 46
As competitors publicly entered the race to produce a vaccine, drug giant Merck stayed quiet about its development plans. Now, the company has revealed it’s working on two vaccines and a treatment pill -- emerging as a frontrunner in the development contest. Although the company has refused to give firm timelines for its research, it has pledged to make its vaccines and pill available globally, if they're successful. Riley Griffin talked with Merck Chief Executive Kenneth C. Frazier about the co...
May 28, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 45
So far, more than 300,000 people globally are known to have died because of the coronavirus. The U.S. is fast approaching the grim milestone of 100,000 fatalities. And as shocking as those numbers are, experts believe there are actually many more deaths we’re not counting. We need to understand how fast, and in what groups, mortality is rising, in order to fine-tune the policies that govern our response to the virus. Jason Gale reports that experts are looking past the official count to find oth...
May 27, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 44
Knowing how many people are being tested for coronavirus is essential for getting an accurate picture of the spread of the virus. But the government hasn’t readily provided this data. Instead, experts, media outlets and even the Trump administration have turned to a surprising source for these numbers: A volunteer effort by a team of journalists, called the Covid Tracking Project. Emma Court reports on what we're learning from the project. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 26, 2020•15 min•Season 5Ep. 43
There's an innovative, but risky way we could speed up development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Some scientists argue we should intentionally infect volunteers with the coronavirus to get a vaccine sooner. How would it work? Today's special episode is a collaboration with Tradeoffs, a podcast about our costly, complicated and counter-intuitive health care system. Tradeoffs' Dan Gorenstein explores how scientists could ethically and safely infect people to speed up the fight against COVID-19. Subscribe...
May 25, 2020•10 min•Season 5Ep. 42
There’s a growing public health argument about how people should calculate risk when it comes to social distancing. Many states are now lifting stay-at-home restrictions, summer is around the corner, and people in the third month of what many hoped would be a weeks-long disruption are desperate to visit friends and get outside. That means we will be socializing a lot more--in many cases, without clear guidelines as to what’s really risky. Kristen V. Brown reports that as we learn more about how ...
May 22, 2020•13 min
Calls continue to mount for the release of inmates at risk of COVID-19 infection as cases rise at correctional facilities across the country. So far, 70 percent of inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Oakdale Federal Correctional Complex, a low-security prison about 200 miles west of New Orleans, is one of the federal prisons hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Jordan Gass-Poore’ reports on what is being done to combat the spread of the disea...
May 21, 2020•16 min•Season 5Ep. 40
Covid-19 has sparked an unprecedented mobilization of researchers looking to create a drug that can stem the spread of the virus. Globally, drug developers are working on as many as 100 experimental vaccines. But as nations rush to ease lockdowns and restart economies, some countries seem to want to secure early supplies of a vaccine for themselves. James Paton reported on efforts to democratize international access to vaccines, and the dangers of creating immunization gaps. See omnystudio.com/l...
May 20, 2020•13 min•Season 5Ep. 29
The Internet has been teeming with theories about the origin of the coronavirus. Scientists have been saying for more than three months that it most likely originated in a species of bat found in the south of China, and then managed to somehow jump into people. But alternative explanations have been floated. United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly blamed China, and specifically a laboratory in Wuhan that was researching dangerous viruses. Jason Gale talked to a World Health O...
May 19, 2020•14 min•Season 5Ep. 38
