Lockdown with Dr Jay Achar
Sit back with the calming bedside manner of Dr Jay Achar - infectious diseases expert, epidemiologist and veteran of Medicines Sans Frontieres' work during the ebola outbreak in West Africa. Fatherhood speaks to Jay from his home in Sweden (where the gov't decision not to enforce full lockdown measures has caused heated debate) to hear how unity and a healthy dose of realism are vital in tackling an epidemic. In the episode we hear why Dr Achar feels humankind's propensity for inertia gets in the way of pandemic preparedness (one of his own lecture topics at Imperial College no less) and when he thinks we will get back to normal (spoiler: it's complicated...) And for a glimpse into how families worldwide are coping, we feature a number of diaries recording using the global open-source platform, coronadiaries.io. Music as ever by DJ Mandray for balancetwo - you can donate to MSF here https://www.msf.org/donate - and for more diaries visit https://coronadiaries.io - thanks!