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 [email protected] .
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.
Discussed in this episode: The FDA’s just approved a new round of COVID shots, tuned to target the KP.2 subvariant of the the virus, which is not the dominant strain in circulation right now, but a close relative. MRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna should be available as soon as this week. The updated Novavax … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Key COVID-19 prevalence indicators suggest the current surge of COVID-19 infections is the largest summer wave ever, with infections extra-concentrated in the western United States. Test positivity is at its highest since the Omicron wave, but hospitalizations and deaths are comparatively low. COVID levels in sewage samples are particularly high around … Continued
To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: [email protected]. Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: The US — in particular, the Western US — is in the midst of a summer wave of COVID cases. Research published in May suggests the risk of contracting COVID on a flight increases by 53% for every additional hour of flight length. To send us a question in advance of … Continued
Discussed in this episode: There appears to be a summer surge in COVID activity: test positivity, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations are all trending up. New research seems to confirm one mechanism behind Long Covid symptoms is auto-immunity: in response to infection, the body starts producing antibodies that go on to attack parts of the … Continued
Guest-hosted by Ariel Boone, in for Brian Edwards-Tiekert. To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: [email protected] . Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Guest-hosted by Ariel Boone, in for Brian Edwards-Tiekert. To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: [email protected] . Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Guest-hosted by Ariel Boone, in for Brian Edwards-Tiekert. To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: [email protected] . Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: The WHO reported a fatal human case of H5N1 avian influenza in Mexico. It’s a different variant from what’s been documented in US dairy herds. It’s unclear how the patient, who was already very sick, got infected. The FDA’s external scientific advisory panel, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Committee (VRBPAC) … Continued
Discussed in this episode: There’s a third confirmed case of H5N1 Avian Influenza in a farmworker. For the first time, the patient has respiratory symptoms. This raises concerns that 1) the virus has adapted to attach to a new set of receptors in the human body, and 2) more people will get exposed via droplets … Continued
