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to people living in extreme poverty.

Due to the pandemic, global poverty rates are rising for the first time in two decades.

In response, Give Directly has delivered contactless cash payments to over a half million

people in seven countries in Africa.

These countries are currently facing their highest COVID infection rates yet, and only

1.5% of Africa has been fully vaccinated.

Having cash lets individuals invest in what they need the most right now.

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Hello and welcome to the Ostrome Update COVID-19, a podcast on the COVID-19 pandemic with Dr.

Michael Ostrome.

Dr. Ostrome is an internationally recognized medical detective, and director of the Center

for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CITRAP, at the University of Minnesota.

In this podcast, Dr. Ostrome will draw on more than 45 years of experience investigating

infectious disease outbreaks to provide straight talk on the COVID-19 pandemic.

I'm Chris Dahl, reporter for CITRAP News, and I'm your host for these conversations.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Ostrome Update podcast.

On August 19th, in the summer wave of new COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths

in the US, shows no signs of slowing down.

A summer that started with the feeling that the worst of the pandemic was behind us is

now nearing an end with a heightened feeling of uncertainty, dominated by new questions

about how much worse the current surge will get, how much protection the vaccines will

...