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This Podcast Will Kill You

COVID-19 Chapter 8: Disparities

This Podcast Will Kill You

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Health & Fitness, Science

4.817.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2020

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the eighth episode in our Anatomy of a Pandemic series focusing on COVID-19, we discuss how this pandemic will likely lead to a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable populations around the globe. “Wash your hands.” “Stay at home.” “Practice physical distancing.” These are the public health messages for how to slow this pandemic. But what happens when you can’t wash your hands because you lack clean water or soap? Or if you can’t stay at home because you’re fleeing a war zone? Dr. Jonathan Whittall, Director of Analysis at Medicines Sans Frontières (aka Doctors Without Borders) joins us to talk about the challenges faced by the most vulnerable populations during this crisis and how MSF is working to overcome those challenges while bracing for the pandemic’s impact (interview recorded April 3, 2020). We wrap up the episode by discussing the top five things we learned from our expert. To help you get a better idea of the topics covered in this episode, we have listed the questions below:What kind of projects are you currently working on?Can you talk about what you're seeing in terms of the differences between this COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergency situations, such as cholera outbreaks in refugee camps or Ebola epidemics?What are some lessons that you think hospitals in other regions can learn from physicians or logistical coordinators that have worked in these situations previously?You wrote a great opinion piece about some of the challenges faced by the most vulnerable populations in trying to prevent infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. Can you talk a bit about those challenges and what the most vulnerable populations are?What are some of the ways that MSF has been trying to overcome those challenges? What have we seen so far in terms of the impact of COVID-19 on these vulnerable populations?MSF has recently expanded their efforts throughout Europe - can you talk about what that expansion looks like and how different groups or activities are prioritized?As a part of a group that works internationally, can you talk about some of the challenges in coordinating this work internationally and why it's so crucial to communicate across borders?There's been a lot of discussion about how this pandemic may change the way we handle public health at national and, especially, international scales. What are some of the changes you hope to see?  Follow Dr. Jonathan Whittall (@offyourrecord) or check out the MSF-Analysis website (http://msf-analysis.org/). And read his fantastic article here: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/bracing-for-impact-of-the-coronavirus-1.70570512

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Justin from The Generation Y, and we're doing a four-part series on rambling the story of

0:05.0

Khalif Browder, a young boy falsely accused of stealing a backpack and held at Rikers Island for three

0:10.7

years without trial. This story is about a young life caught in the middle of the Justice System,

0:16.1

listen to Generation Y on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:21.1

I am a public defender. I practice in a small area of a state that is not one of the epicenters

0:26.7

for the coronavirus. There are parts of my state that have been hit hard and there have been

0:31.4

cases in and around my area. A great deal of my time and energy has been devoted to my currently

0:36.9

incarcerated clients. Often when I see articles on social media about coronavirus and jails and

0:43.2

prisons, there are a lot of comments along the lines of, well, it's their own fault for being

0:48.0

there. This frustrates me a lot. First, not everyone who is locked up has been convicted of

0:54.4

something. Many of my clients are locked up because they could not make bail. Also, minor crimes

1:00.7

should not carry a death sentence. When courts went to restricted schedules in mid-March, my office

1:06.4

started filing motions for bond for clients whose cases had been continued. One of my colleagues

1:12.0

contacted the local jail to find out information on male inmates' abilities to social distance and

1:17.5

maintain hygiene. Female inmates are housed elsewhere and we did not receive information on their

1:22.7

situation. We found out one, showers and toilets are shared with one shower for 16 to 17 inmates.

1:32.1

Two, clothing is washed twice per week. Linen's are washed once per week and blankets are washed

1:37.6

monthly. Three, two or three inmates sleep on the floor of a pod designed for 14. Four, there is no

1:46.0

access to hand sanitizer. Five, there are limited supplies of soap, toilet paper and tissues.

1:54.2

And six, there is not enough physical space to allow inmates to maintain three foot separation

1:59.9

as was the recommendation at the time. The judge hearing our motions was, and at the time of

2:06.8

writing this still is, of the opinion that inmates are safer in jail than out on the streets. Of

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