COVID-19 Episodes

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 D…
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, AS…
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 …
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 D…
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 ex…
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 E…
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, …
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,…
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 …
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 t…
Jan. 26, 2022

105: Rural Health Needs

ASTHO and associations representing epidemiologists, counties, cities, and public health labs issue a statement supporting jurisdictions moving away from universal case investigation and contact tracing at this point in the …
Jan. 25, 2022

104: Advancing Health Equity

Paula Tran, Wisconsin’s State Health Officer, says it’s possible to maintain health equity priorities even as the pandemic continues to strain resources. Health equity is among the issues considered in a set of 10 ASTHO poli…
Jan. 24, 2022

103: Ending the HIV Epidemic

Dr. Joseph Kanter, Louisiana’s State Health Officer, talks about fighting the HIV epidemic during the COVID-19 pandemic as ASTHO releases a set of 10 policy briefings focused on public health issues expected to be priorities…
Jan. 21, 2022

102: Recalling COVID-19’s First Case Part 2

Dr. John Wiesman, the former Secretary of Health in Washington state, gives his assessment of the nation's pandemic response since the first COVID-19 case was discovered in his state two years ago this week. He discusses wha…
Jan. 20, 2022

101: Recalling COVID-19's First Case Part 1

Dr. John Wiesman, the former Secretary of Health in Washington state, reflects on the moment the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in his state and thus the U.S.; Dr. Alexis Travis, Michigan’s State Health Officer, says i…