COVID-19 Episodes

April 22, 2022

163: Mask Mandate Ruling

Andy Baker White, ASTHO’s Senior Director for State Health Policy, discusses the impact of this week’s federal court ruling striking down the mask requirement for people using public transportation; Phillip Talboy, Senior Advisor with the CDC’s...
April 19, 2022

160: Variant Fatigue

Dr. Mark Levine, Commissioner of Health at the Vermont Department of Health, explains how the COVID BA.2 sub-variant is being received by people in his state; Caroline Brazeel, ASTHO’s Senior Director for Population Health and Innovation, tells us...
April 18, 2022

159: Do People Trust Public Health?

Dr. Gillian SteelFisher, Deputy Director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program, says a recent poll finds most U.S. adults think public health agencies are important to their communities; Richard Quartarone, a health communicator in the CDC’s...
April 14, 2022

157: Health Equity Report Card

Dr. Leandris Liburd, the CDC’s Chief Health Equity Officer, talks about her job and the work underway to improve health equity in the U.S.; ASTHO has a new blog article reporting an increase in several categories of STDs across the nation; Dr....
April 13, 2022

156: STD Awareness

Jessica Baggett, ASTHO’s Director of COVID-19 Response, explains the strategies included in ASTHO’s new COVID-19 management plan; Dr. John Hellerstedt, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, says COVID-19 has led to an...
April 1, 2022

148: Public Health Under Attack

Dr. Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, says the results of a national survey of public health workers indicate a workforce under attack; Morning Edition shares plans to cover National Public Health Week starting next Monday; Dr....
March 31, 2022

147: The Looming Medicaid Purge

Caroline Brazeel, ASTHO’s Senior Director for Population Health and Innovation, explains how states and territories are preparing for the moment when millions of children could lose health care coverage as early as this summer; two professionals...
March 30, 2022

146: Boosting Vaccine Uptake

ASTHO and the de Beaumont Foundation release early results of a new survey of America’s public health workforce; ASTHO Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcus Plescia says there are steps public health departments can take to address lagging COVID-19...
March 29, 2022

145: New Youth Tobacco Use Survey

Dr. Andrea Gentzke, a health scientist in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, reviews the findings of the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey; Jack Niedenthal, Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Republic of the Marshall Islands,...
March 22, 2022

143: NIH Study on Masking in Schools

Dr. Sonia Lee, Acting Branch Chief of the NICHD Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch at the National Institutes of Health, explains the findings of a new study measuring the impact of mask wearing in schools; Dr. Haley Cash, an...
March 21, 2022

142: America’s Alarming Stress Levels

Dr. Vaile Wright, Senior Director of Healthcare Innovation for the American Psychological Association, explains a new poll that shows Americans are suffering from alarming levels of stress due to COVID-19, inflation, and war in Eastern Europe; Jim...
March 16, 2022

139: New Report on Public Health Readiness

Dara Lieberman, Director of Government Relations for the Trust for America’s Health, explains the organization’s “Ready or Not 2022” report assessing states’ readiness to protect public health during emergencies; Brian Lentes, ASTHO’s...
March 15, 2022

138: New Healthy Aging Toolkit

Talyah Sands, ASTHO’s Director of Health Improvement, describes a new toolkit to help public health agencies assess cognitive health needs and promote healthy aging; ASTHO plans two webinars later today to explain its upcoming 2022 Profile of State...
March 14, 2022

137: Opioids Get Presidential Attention

Dr. Cathy Slemp, West Virginia’s former state health officer, reflects on President Biden’s comments about America’s opioid epidemic in his recent State of the Union address; Paul Petersen, Director of Emergency Preparedness at the Tennessee...
March 11, 2022

136: Grassroots Vaccine Outreach

Dr. Anne Marie Murphy, Executive Director of Equal Hope in Chicago, explains the work her team does to reach unvaccinated populations with COVID-19 information and vaccines; Jessica Baggett, ASTHO’s COVID-19 Response Director, shares what members...
March 7, 2022

132: New Vaccine Equity Program

Geetika Nadkarni, ASTHO’s Director of Infectious Diseases, outlines a new initiative aimed at reducing disparities in vaccination rates among adult racial and ethnic minority groups and rural communities; the Community COVID Coalition adds more...
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...