Hello everyone and welcome to Ammanpur. Here's what's coming up.

The cost of doing nothing, why this pandemic is yet another example of our failure to prepare

and to heed the warning signs.

The undercover economist Tim Harford joins me to talk COVID

and other cautionary tales.

Then, you know, there's parts of my reality that deserve to be mocked and best mocked by me first.

Redefined comedy by confronting trauma. I speak to international

stand-up sensation Hannah Gatsby. Plus, how do you grade the federal government's

response to what is happening in the context of education.

Yes, I grade them as an F.

Randy Weingarten, president of one of the biggest teachers unions in the United States, talks to our

Harry screen of Asan about the national dilemma around reopening schools. Welcome to the program everyone. I'm Christina Manpur working from home in London.

Every day now the United States is setting a grim new record for coronavirus cases. A growing number of

states and businesses have finally come around to mandating face masks, but not

before a lot of dispute over their effectiveness.

And there have been many attempts to discredit science, including against the country's

top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauchy, who has repeatedly warned against reopening the U.S. economy too soon.

And now America, as we know, is paying a heavy price.

He's called the latest White House efforts to discredit him bizarre and he has this simple plea.

Let's stop this nonsense and figure out how can we get our control over this now and looking forward how can we make sure

that next month we don't have another example of California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona, because those were the hot zones now, and I'm looking

at the map saying we've got to make sure it doesn't happen in other states.

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