Infectious Diseases Episodes

Jan. 10, 2023

333: COVID-19 Booster Strategy, Medicaid Policies

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO Chief Medical Officer, says public health agencies are increasing the focus on COVID-19 boosters for those living in nursing homes and other care settings; Alex Kearly, ASTHO's Director of Medicaid and Value Based Payment,...
Jan. 9, 2023

332: Public Health Polling, Flu Vaccine Strategies

Dr. Meredith Li-Vollmer, Risk Communication Manager for the Seattle and King County Public Health Department, says polling data helped agencies better understand community attitudes and opinions during the pandemic; Shalini Nair, ASTHO Senior Analyst...
Dec. 15, 2022

324: Vaccine Anniversary

Brent Ewig, Chief Policy and Government Relations Officer for the Association of Immunization Managers, marks the second anniversary of COVID-19 vaccines this week; Jamie Pina, ASTHO Vice President of Public Health Data Modernization, says states and territories are taking action to...
Nov. 9, 2022

301: Health in All Policies Primer

Kerry Wyss, ASTHO’s Director of Environmental Health, outlines a new report about the value of a Health in All Policies approach to public health; Ali Aslam, ASTHO’s Senior Analyst for Environmental Health, discusses how grantmakers can...
Nov. 7, 2022

299: Pediatric Respiratory Cases Cause Concern

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President, releases a statement addressing the response to a spike in respiratory infections; Dr. Jose Romero, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, addresses the latest concerns...
Nov. 3, 2022

297: Virus Triple Threat

Dr. Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President of Health Equity and Diversity Initiatives, discusses concerns with RSV infections and the triple threat that comes with treating those cases at the same time people are getting sick with...
Oct. 31, 2022

294: Public Health on the Ballot

Jeanne Ayers, Executive Director of Healthy Democracy Healthy People and an ASTHO alum, discusses the impact of voting on public health; Grace Lee, Senior Analyst for Infectious Disease Infrastructure and Policy, authored a blog article about the...
Sept. 26, 2022

270: Tracking Polio in New York

Dr. Jim McDonald, Medical Director for the New York State Department of Health, discusses the discovery of polio in wastewater in at least two NY counties; Carolyn McCoy, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs, explains legislation...
Sept. 23, 2022

269: Urging COVID-19 Booster Uptake

Dr. Steven Stack, ASTHO President-Elect, discusses the new COVID-19 booster designed to protect against the latest variants; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President, explains the need to bring health care and public health closer together in an ASTHO blog...
Aug. 23, 2022

247: CDC Reforms

Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO’s President and Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, commends CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky for wanting to improve the CDC’s mission; Rachel Scheckman, an ASTHO Senior Policy Analyst,...
Aug. 22, 2022

246: Back to School Concerns

Dylan George, Director of Operations for the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics with the CDC, discusses trying to evaluate the factors that could drive more COVID-19 infections in the fall as kids return to school; Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO...
Aug. 12, 2022

240: Monkeypox Funding

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, discusses the challenges posed by the monkeypox outbreak and admits the evolving strategy can be tough to communicate; Devon Page, an ASTHO Government Affairs Analyst, breaks down Congressional...
Aug. 11, 2022

239: Infectious Disease Planning

Winfred Rawls, ASTHO’s Director for Preparedness and Evaluation, explains a project that will lead to the development of a clearinghouse with information to help public health agencies get ready for the next crisis; Andrea Flinchum, State HAI...
Aug. 10, 2022

238: New York Responds to Monkeypox

Dr. James McDonald, Medical Director in the Office of Public Health for the New York State Department of Health, says the monkeypox response in New York follows the data and social determinants; a new ASTHO report about mosquitos highlights the work...
Aug. 1, 2022

231: Monkeypox Response

Chris Taylor, Director of Infectious Disease Outbreak Response & Recovery at ASTHO, reflects on the Monkeypox outbreak now in its third month here in the United States; Robert Jennings, Executive Director of the National Public Health Information...
July 19, 2022

222: Better Data, More Equity

Dr. Carlos Oronce, an Advanced Health Services Research Fellow at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, discusses the challenges of COVID-19 being exacerbated by a lack of good data; Dr. Joseph Kanter, State Health Officer for the Louisiana...
June 30, 2022

210: Responses to Gun Violence

Lindsey Myers, ASTHO’s Vice President for Social and Behavioral Health, discusses a new blog article she authored with Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcus Plescia about men and gun violence; Dr. Steven Stack, Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for...
June 14, 2022

199: Juneteenth Webinar Examines Racism, Health Equity Link

Dr. Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President of Health Equity and Diversity Initiatives, will host a discussion featuring comments from Miss Opal Lee known as the grandmother of Juneteenth, as part of a Juneteenth webinar on...
June 13, 2022

198: Children’s COVID-19 Vaccine Outlook

Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the WHERE, discusses vaccines and what to expect for the rest of this year as panels for both the FDA and the CDC begin discussing the COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of five;...
June 10, 2022

197: Preparing for Monkeypox

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, discusses the three-step approach to combat Monkeypox in the U.S.; Dr. Jinlene Chan, Maryland’s Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services, outlines her department’s response to Monkeypox; and...
May 10, 2022

175: Tracking Threats to Pregnancy Health

Dr. Karen Remley, Director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities with the CDC, discusses the SET-NET project to protect the health of pregnant people and their babies; Dr. Philip LoBue, Director of the Division of...
May 3, 2022

170: Hepatitis Alert

Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama’s State Health Officer, discusses how states and territories are on alert for cases of hepatitis and adenovirus in children; Dr. Jose Romero, Arkansas’ Secretary of Health, is worried about increasing cases of...
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...
Jan. 11, 2022

95: ProPublica’s Syphilis Investigation – Part 2

Dr. Joseph Kanter, Louisiana’s State Health Officer, explains the evolution of messaging required by the fast-moving Omicron variant during an appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal morning show Monday; ProPublica journalist Caroline Chen...