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.
This episode’s all listener questions, including: When does it make sense to wait for the new booster? Can you start Paxlovid too early? Where do you get a PCR test these days? Does your reaction to a booster tell you anything about your immune performance? To send us a question in advance of next week’s … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Cases of Norovirus, which causes intense vomiting and diarrhea, are rising sharply and likely approaching their seasonal peak. Alcohol-based sanitizers don’t work very well on this virus: it’s better just to scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water. Here are tips from the CDC on how … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Are there downsides to getting too many doses of COVID vaccine? A new study of one man who got 217 (!) doses couldn’t find any. 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 … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The CDC has updated its COVID vaccine guidance to recommend adults age 65+ get an additional dose of the latest COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC has also weakened its guidance on how long to isolate when sick with COVID-19, to make it the same as for other respiratory virus infections. (We discussed … Continued
Discussed in this episode: A newly-published study in Nature Neuroscience points to a likely mechanism by which Long Covid produces neurological symptoms like brain fog: disruption of the blood-brain barrier Because of fundraising at KPFA, we’ll only be taking questions via email for the next week (the station needs its phone lines free for people … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The Washington Post (and subsequently, other outlets) is reporting, based on anonymous sources, that the CDC is considering changing its guidelines on COVID isolation to give people with COVID cases an all-clear after they’ve been fever-free for 24 hours without the help of fever -suppressing medication. Because of fundraising at KPFA, … Continued
An episode devoted exclusively to answering questions from the audience, including: When do I know it’s safe to stop wearing a mask at indoor gatherings? How long after a possible exposure should I start getting tested? What are the odds of getting Long COVID? To send in questions: [email protected] Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial … Continued
An episode devoted exclusively to answering questions from the audience, including: How long *before* testing positive might someone be contagious? How much immunity do newborns have? How do you check the certification on a KN95?* Will there be a Spring booster for people at high risk? What lessons should we learn from the COVID response? … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The California Department of Public Health has changed its COVID isolation guidelines. It no longer recommends people with asymptomatic COVID isolate. For people with symptomatic cases, the updated guidelines allow isolation to end after they’ve been fever-free for 24 hours (as long as other symptoms are improving). A three-country study published … Continued
Discussed in this episode: A study recently published in Clinical Infectious Diseases finds COVID viral load is peaking later after symptom onset than at the start of the pandemic https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciad582 A laboratory study on syrian hamsters found temperature and humidity had no statistically significant impact on the rate of airborne transmission. This suggests any seasonal … Continued
