Atul Gawande Discusses the COVID-19 Resurgence
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2021
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
For a few brief moments this summer, in places where the vaccination rate was high, we could imagine life after COVID-19: restaurants and theatres were filling up, gatherings of all kinds were taking place, and many businesses were planning to return to their offices after Labor Day. Then the story changed, as the highly contagious Delta variant began sweeping the nation. Atul Gawande, a professor of medicine and an internationally recognized expert on public health, tells David Remnick that the Delta surge has also caused a vaccination surge, which is promising. They discuss the idea of booster shots and the possibility of a future variant that would resist the vaccine and cause more severe breakthrough infections. The Lambda variant, Gawande says, has already reached the U.S., but little is known yet about how it responds to the vaccines in use here.
(Gawande has been nominated by President Biden to lead global health development, including COVID-19 efforts, for the United States Agency for International Development. The appointment awaits confirmation in the Senate.)
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| 0:47.4 | This is the Politics and More podcast. |
| 0:50.3 | I'm David Remnick. |
| 0:53.4 | For a few brief moments this summer, you could imagine life after COVID. |
| 1:00.1 | In places where the vaccination rate was especially high and cases were falling, |
| 1:04.8 | some of us were even getting back to some version of the old life, |
| 1:08.6 | seeing friends indoors and out, eating in restaurants, and a great |
| 1:12.4 | deal more. We didn't forget COVID, far from it, but the fear was lifting. It felt amazing. |
| 1:19.6 | Then in recent weeks, the story changed. At the New Yorker, we're lucky to have on our staff, |
| 1:24.7 | Atul Gawande. Atul is not only a staff writer, he's a professor of medicine and an expert on public health. |
| 1:31.5 | Atul co-founded a company that does COVID testing and vaccination, and he advised President |
| 1:36.4 | Biden's transition team on how to deal with the pandemic. |
| 1:40.6 | Atul, I don't want to accuse you of anything, but what the hell? |
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