David and Helen talk this week with Amy Maxmen, senior reporter at Nature. Amy has covered the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa and now COVID-19 in the US. Does she see comparisons between the two? What explains the failures of the US response? Can the WHO still make a difference? Plus we explore the implications of the growing politicisation of science. When did data become so divisive?
Talking Points:
There are significant parallels between what is happening now and epidemics such as ebola.
Politics made the ebola outbreak in DRC worse.
For Amy, the lack of tests and the failure to contact trace and quarantine made it clear that the U.S. response would be much worse than she had feared.
There’s a lot to be said for supply chain management right now.
The WHO is now getting politicized, but they still have the most experience at coordinating things like this at a global level.
If you need people to stay home; you need to be sure that you can support them.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Further Learning:
And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking
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