Corona Calls

Corona Calls

open in itunes

A weekly update on new research and developments concerning COVID-19 (and occasionally other infectious diseases that hit the news).

We take questions via call-in during the live broadcast, Mondays at 7:33am Pacific, streaming via kpfa.org. Podcasts with show notes go up later the same day. Between live shows, we take questions via email at upfront@kpfa.org .

Our guest most weeks is Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Our question-wrangler most weeks is Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of KPFA’s morning public affairs program, UpFront. 

Music: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

Corona Calls

Corona Calls for 05.15.2023: new CDC guidelines on air and masking

ListenDownloadopen in itunes

By

Three and a half years into the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control has issued updated guidelines on air exchange and filtration for indoor spaces: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilation.html The CDC has also issued updated masking guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/about-face-coverings.html NB: these recommendations are now tied to COVID-19 hospitalization levels, rather than levels of community spread (which the CDC is … Continued

Corona Calls

Corona Calls for 04.24.2023: XBB.1.16 (Arcturus)

ListenDownloadopen in itunes

By

Discussed in this episode: The CDC has started reporting US prevalence of XBB.1.16, colloquially known as “Arcturus.” It’s a more-transmissible subvariant of Omicron the CDC currently estimates to comprise roughly 10% of COVID cases in the US Podcast music credit:  Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

Corona Calls

Corona Calls for 04.17.2023: Biden’s plan for longer-lasting vaccines; Plus, covid cautions for pregnancy

ListenDownloadopen in itunes

By

Discussed in this episode: White House to invest $5 billion in next-generation COVID vaccines. Here’s why we need new ones: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/04/10/project-next-generation-coronavirus-vaccines-biden-administration/11636925002/ COVID caused brain damage in 2 infants infected during pregnancy: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-caused-brain-damage-2-infants-infected-during-pregnancy-us-study-2023-04-06/ Podcast music credit:  Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

Corona Calls

Corona Calls for 04.10.2023: Another booster may be on the way

ListenDownloadopen in itunes

By

Discussed in this episode: PREPRINT: Bramante, Buse, et al. “Outpatient Treatment of COVID-19 and the Development of Long COVID Over 10 Months: A Multi-Center, Quadruple-Blind, Parallel Group Randomized Phase 3 Trial” https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4375620 Xie, Choi, et al. “Association of Treatment With Nirmatrelvir and the Risk of Post–COVID-19 Condition” JAMA Intern Med. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2802878 Podcast music credit:  Now Son by Podington … Continued

Corona Calls

Corona Calls for 03.26.2023 : Does COVID damage the immune system?

ListenDownloadopen in itunes

By

Discussed in this episode: Gao, Fei, et al. “Robust T Cell Responses to Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Compared to Infection and Evidence of Attenuated Peripheral CD8+ T Cell Responses Due to Covid-19.” Immunity, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2023.03.005 Podcast music credit:  Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.