Public Health On Call

Globally, more men are dying from COVID-19 than women. But is this due to sex (biological differences), gender (social and contextual differences), or something else entirely? Stephanie Desmon talks to virologist Sabra Klein and social scientist Rosemary Morgan about risk factors associated with COVID-19.

In 2014, Tolbert Nyenswah, then an assistant minister of health in Liberia, was tapped to lead the nation's response to the Ebola epidemic. Under his leadership, an Incident Management System deployed thousands of epidemiologists, case managers, and contact tracers in a technical response that brought the outbreak under control. Nyenswah talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what the US can learn from Liberia's experience and what needs to happen soon to get ahead of the curve. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

Una entrevista entre Monica Guerrero Vazquez, una graduada de La Escuela De Salud Publica de Johns Hopkins y Dra. Kathleen Page del Hospital Johns Hopkins sobre el virus que está afectando al mundo, incluyendo lo que podemos hacer para protegernos.

What does a global pandemic mean for the world's drug supply chain? Howard Sklamberg, lawyer and former FDA deputy commissioner, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the threats that COVID-19 poses to medications for everything from cancer to diabetes to hypertension. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

The Center for Health Security is back with another round of expert answers to your most-asked COVID-19 questions. If we reopen everything back up, what is the risk that we'll have a new surge of infections? As China considers loosening restrictions, how are they making those decisions? Why aren't there human temperature monitors in public places like airports, hospitals, and grocery stores? Is anyone considering breast milk for antibody therapy? Can two positive people quarantine together? How many people will actually get COVID-19? What are the most important unanswered questions right now? Eric Toner of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security addresses questions submitted to publichealthquestion@jhu.edu.

As public health experts stress the importance of hygiene and social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19, what does this mean for the 2.3 million people incarcerated in the U.S.? Johns Hopkins Infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Chris Beyrer talks to Stephanie Desmon about the difficulties of protecting people in these facilities, the low-risk/high-reward strategy of releasing those held on administrative misdemeanors, and how undocumented people may be one of our most vulnerable populations. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

Caring for patients with COVID-19 requires a new playbook in many ways. Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a pulmonologist in the ICU at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the medical director of the biocontainment unit, talks to Stephanie Desmon about his observations of COVID-19 patients including new challenges, changes to protocols, and coping with fears about he and his colleagues getting sick themselves. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

Equal access to resources, care, and information is a substantial problem for at-risk groups such as older adults, ethnic minorities, or those with low incomes even in the best of times. In this pandemic, where it's critical to "flatten the curve" among all groups, these barriers cannot be ignored. Dr. Lisa Cooper, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what needs to be done to address these significant, persistent challenges. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

Like many, epidemiologist Keri Althoff and biostatistician Elizabeth Stuart are juggling different responsibilities and precautionary measures in the "new normal" of COVID-19. They talk to Stephanie Desmon not about their day jobs, but about play dates, community building while social distancing, ordering takeout, and how they're managing COVID-19 as parents, neighbors, and friends. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19

What does it take to stand up a makeshift hospital—and enough people to staff it—in order to address critically ill patients of COVID-19? Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, Director of Prevent Epidemics team at Resolve to Save Lives talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how to quickly scale up medical responses in a crisis. Learn more: jhsph.edu/covid-19