Welcome to Words Matter with Katie Barlow and Joe Lockhart.

Welcome to Words Matter, I'm Katie Barlow.

Our goal is to promote objective reality.

As a wise man once said, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, not their own facts.

Have power and words have consequences.

All right, Joe.

So in the post-World War II era,

presidents have had to deal with pandemics as a part of their job.

The Eisenhower administration fast-tracked the polio vaccine,

Gerald Ford dealt with swine flu,

Ronald Reagan's legacy is marred by his administrations in action on AIDS in the 1980s.

And of course, President Obama confronted the global threat of Ebola.

And now we have the coronavirus.

Don't talk a little bit about the presidency and pandemics.

Yeah, it's a very difficult issue.

Maybe one of the most difficult presidents can face,

because you have to balance a really conflicting interest.

You have a public health on one side.

These are very serious issues.

You need to balance the need for people to understand what the threat is,

understand the steps they can take to address the threat,

but also not overreact and panic.

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