COVID-19 Episodes

March 4, 2022

131: ASTHO Reacts to New COVID-19 Plan

Mike Fraser, ASTHO’s CEO, issues a statement offering early reaction to the Biden Administration’s new National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan; Dr. Elisha Hall, Clinical Guidelines Lead for the CDC’s Vaccine Task Force, explains the latest...
March 3, 2022

130: ASTHO’s State of the Union Response

Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Relations, reacts to President Biden’s comments about public health in his State of the Union address Tuesday night; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Director of...
March 2, 2022

129: Messaging New COVID-19 Metrics

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, says public health jurisdictions must have clear messaging when explaining the CDC’s new community-level COVID-19 metrics; Elizabeth Head, Deputy Director for Injury Prevention at the Georgia...
Feb. 25, 2022

126: Personal Stories Fight Vaccine Misinformation

Molly Howell, Immunization Director at the North Dakota Department of Health, says testimonials from people impacted by COVID-19 have helped make the virus real for people with doubts about the vaccines; Chrissie Juliano, Executive Director of the Big...
Feb. 24, 2022

125: COVID-19 Antivirals

Dr. Lisa Piercey, Tennessee’s Health Commissioner, says the increased availability of oral antiviral medications doesn’t lessen the need for vaccines to fight COVID-19; Cortney Lovell, co-founder of Our Wellness Collective, says she hopes a new...
Feb. 22, 2022

123: Territories Visit Capitol Hill

Alex Wheatley, a Senior Analyst on ASTHO’s Territorial Support Team, explains the work Territorial members will do tomorrow during the organization’s annual Hill Day event in Washington, D.C.; Carolyn McCoy, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Federal...
Feb. 17, 2022

121: A Focus on Mental Health

Elke Shaw-Tulloch, Idaho’s State Health Officer, shares her state’s approach to addressing mental health concerns; ASTHO’s Maggie Davis authors a blog article on legislative efforts impacting mental health; Carolyn McCoy, ASTHO’s Senior...
Feb. 15, 2022

119: Is COVID-19 in Retreat?

Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, says the COVID-19 virus may be in a welcomed retreat; Dr. Joe Gaugler tells us why organizers of a new conference on dementia caregiving planned for June in Minneapolis want public...
Feb. 14, 2022

118: Selling Vaccines to Younger Adults

Julie Scofield, Project Director for the Community COVID Coalition, a project of the CDC Foundation, reports on the results of a months-long social media campaign to convince younger adults to get the COVID-19 vaccine; and Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO’s...
Feb. 11, 2022

117: ASTHO’s New Strategic Plan

Zarnaaz Bashir, ASTHO’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, says the organization’s new strategic plan was created during and influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic; Dr. Robert Bourgeois, an occupational and environmental health expert working along the...
Feb. 10, 2022

116: Data Modernization Report Card

Dr. David Adinaro, New Jersey’s Deputy Commissioner for Public Health, evaluates the state of the nation’s public health data and information infrastructure; Dr. Joseph Gaugler, Director of the BOLD Public Health Center of Excellence on Dementia...
Feb. 3, 2022

111: How to Modernize PH Data

Joanne Pearsol, ASTHO’s Director of Workforce Development, says more than 40,000 public health professionals responded to the latest PHWins survey; Dr. Jamie Pina, ASTHO’s Vice President of Public Health Data Modernization, offers a plan to...
Feb. 1, 2022

109: Reflections on Black History Month

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, reflects on current events in the context of Black History Month, on the first day of the month-long recognition; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO’s President-elect, considers the...
Jan. 28, 2022

107: Immunization Opportunities

Rachael Banks, Oregon’s Director of Public Health, says the focus on immunizations during the pandemic is a perfect opportunity to expand the public health conversation. Immunizations are one of ASTHO’s top 10 policy issues to watch in 2022;...
Jan. 27, 2022

106: Contact Tracing’s Role Today

ASTHO Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcus Plescia explains the latest thinking about how best to use case investigation and contact tracing to fight the Omicron variant; ASTHO joins several other national public health groups to issue a statement this...