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.
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: coronacalls@kpfa.org. 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: coronacalls@kpfa.org . 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: coronacalls@kpfa.org . 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: coronacalls@kpfa.org . 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
Discussed in this episode: H5N1 Avian Influenza has been confirmed in a second dairy worker, this time in Michigan. There are now 56 dairy herds with confirmed outbreaks. A Letter to the Editor in the New England Journal of Medicine details how a laboratory process similar (but not identical) to pasteurization failed to completely eliminate … Continued
