COVID-19 Episodes

Nov. 1, 2023

536: Workforce Care Initiative, JUUL Settlements

Tom St. Louis, Director of the Office of Public Health Workforce Development for the Connecticut Department of Public Health, tells us about the new Culture of Care initiative that aims to help staff recover from the pandemic; Amy Ciarlo, ASTHO Senior...
Oct. 25, 2023

531: RSV Vaccine Pitch, Virus Disparities

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO Chief Medical Officer, wants public health to focus on medical providers as the primary way to promote the RSV vaccine; an ASTHO blog article explains why public health readiness during the respiratory virus season is key; an...
Oct. 20, 2023

528: Flexible Climate Funding, New Federal Budget Deadline

State Public Health Officials Dr. Umair Shah, Dr. Joseph Kanter, and Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, discuss the public health impacts of climate change; Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Relations, discusses hot...
Oct. 13, 2023

523: Making Decisions During a Crisis, PH Help Wanted

ASTHO CEO Dr. Mike Fraser and Dr. Ray Barishansky, Former Deputy Secretary for Health Preparedness and Community Protection at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, explain new research on barriers to decision making in public health response; Dr....
Sept. 22, 2023

509: Bundling Vaccinations, Hoping to Avoid a Government Shutdown

Dr. Gillian SteelFisher, Director of Global Polling at the Harvard Opinion Research Program, says promoting the flu, RSV, and COVID-19 vaccines together help broaden the appeal; Dr. Jennifer Shuford, Commissioner for the Texas Department of State...
Sept. 20, 2023

507: New Vaccine Poll Data, Blogs Help PH Workers Connect

Dr. Gillian SteelFisher, Director of Global Polling at the Harvard Opinion Research Program, shares the results from a study on public perception of COVID-19, RSV and Flu; Dr. Jennifer Thomas, Employee Wellbeing and Resilience Program Manager at the...
Sept. 19, 2023

506: Maintaining Pandemic Partnerships, Septic System Data

Andrew Pickett, Director of the Bureau of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, says collaboration among preparedness professionals is essential for public health; ASTHO has issued a statement supporting the...
Sept. 15, 2023

504: Creative Vaccine Events, Congress Faces Two September Deadlines

Dr. Armando De Alba Rosales, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Programs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, shares creative strategies to boost vaccine uptake among Hispanic communities; a CDC campaign aims to boost...
Aug. 25, 2023

490: Immunization Policy Statement, Fiscal Year Predictions

Kris Ehresmann, former Director of Infectious Disease at the Minnesota Department of Health, describes ASTHO’s revised policy statement; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Government Affairs, discusses predictions for Congressional action...
Aug. 24, 2023

489: School Vaccinations, Chemical Weapon Disposal

Dr. Sameer Vohra, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, details the state’s back-to-school vaccination campaign; Terry Tincher, Section Chief for the CDC’s Chemical Demilitarization Program, marks a big milestone for the program;...
Aug. 18, 2023

485: Planning Post-Pandemic, Arizona’s Heat Map

Warren Villagomez, Director of Public Health Hospital for the Emergency Preparedness Program at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, shares the public health planning lessons learned form COVID-19; Hsini Lin, Office Chief for Environmental...
Aug. 11, 2023

480: RSV Messaging, Emergency Contraception

Hear from the experts who participated in an ASTHO online briefing on the coming RSV season; Sophia Durant, ASTHO’s Analyst of Family and Child Health, says access to emergency contraception is a health equity issue; and an ASTHO virtual session...
Aug. 10, 2023

479: Considering Rural Voices, Misinformation and Disinformation

Bethany Alcauter, Director of Research and Public Health Programs at the National Center for Farmworker Health, is focused on local action when it comes to rural health infrastructure; an ASTHO online briefing discussed the coming RSV season; and...
Aug. 7, 2023

476: Urging Calm Over COVID-19 Numbers, Health and Social Systems Alignment

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, shares the current COVID-19 status and a look ahead into the coming seasons; Dr. Steven Stack, ASTHO president elect and the Commissioner for Public Health for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, outlines...
Aug. 2, 2023

473:  Rethinking Rural Immunization Strategies, Expanding Mental Health Coverage

Melissa Magstadt, Cabinet Secretary for the South Dakota Department of Health, says healthcare must meet patients where they live; Ali Maffey, ASTHO’s Vice President of Social and Behavioral Health, explains approaches to making mental healthcare...
July 31, 2023

471: Disability Equity Tools, ASTHO Wins Vaccine and Preparedness Awards

Adrianna Evans, ASTHO’s Director of Preparedness and Disability Integration, outlines how public health ethics committees help guide preparedness; Kurell Julien, Associate Director of Equity, Inclusion and Justice at Business for Social...
July 26, 2023

468: Pandemic Preps, New Ways to Think About Public Health

Dr. Thomas Dobbs, ASTHO Alum and Dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, says growth is needed in public health to be prepared for the next pandemic; Raymond Neal, Project Director at...
July 25, 2023

467: ASTHO Releases Authority Policy Statement, CDC Kicks Off School Vaccination Campaign

Andy Baker-White, ASTHO’s Senior Director of State Health Policy, outlines three new policy recommendations on Public Health Legal Authority; Dr. Georgina Peacock, the Director of the Immunization Services Division in the National Center for...
July 20, 2023

464: Paxlovid Uptake Lags, New Healthy Aging Policy Statement

Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, says public health aims to strengthen the use of antiviral COVID-19 protections in nursing homes; Priya Shah, ASTHO’s Senior Analyst of Health Improvement and Healthy Aging, shares an updated policy...
June 20, 2023

444: STI Interventions, Communication Priorities

Dr. Jonathan Mermin, Director of the CDC National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, shares how public health can better address the STI epidemic; ASTHO Alum Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Immediate Past Director of the Illinois Department of...
June 16, 2023

443: 2023 DELPH Cohort, House Hearing on Preparedness

Avia Mason, ASTHO Vice President of Leadership and Organizational Performance, explains the significance of the 2023 DELPH cohort; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO Senior Director of Government Affairs, says public health emergency preparedness, data...
June 15, 2023

442: Telling Public Health Stories, RSV Vaccine Reaction

Dr. Edward Ehlinger, former chair of the HHS Advisory Committee on Infant and Maternal Mortality, says public health needs to look beyond numbers to best serve American Indian and Alaska Native mothers and their babies; Dr. Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge,...
May 30, 2023

430: Pandemic Recovery Tips, Data Modernization Partnerships

Dr. Tammy McCoy Arballo, a clinical forensic psychologist, explains how public health leaders can improve the mental health of employees following the stress of COVID-19; Elizabeth Ruebush, ASTHO Senior Director, Public Health Data Modernization and...
May 18, 2023

423: Teaching AI Inclusion, Adjusting COVID Stats

Dr. Brian Anderson, Chief Digital Health Physician at the MITRE Corporation, says public health needs to make data and technology more inclusive; online tickets to attend ASTHO’s TechXpo are still available; Dr. Steven Stack, Commissioner of the...