COVID-19 Chapter 3: Control

Welcome to the third chapter of our Anatomy of a Pandemic series, in which we cover the many aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this chapter, we discuss how epidemic control can be managed from the individual, state, and national levels, as well as the importance of international collaboration to prevent the uncontrolled spread of disease. We start off with a firsthand account from Dr. Colleen Kraft, featured in COVID-19 Chapter 2, who shares the challenges she faces on a daily basis during this crisis while acting as Associate Chief Medical Officer at Emory University Hospital. Then we review some of the terms you’ve probably seen all over the news lately, such as “flattening the curve” or “social distancing”. Dr. Krupita Kuppalli (interview recorded March 18, 2020) shares with us her expertise from a global health and pandemic preparedness perspective, and she answers some of your questions relating to the steps you can take to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community. We wrap up again by going through 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: Now that community transmission is established in the US, what can we do to slow it down? (18:05) Do we need to enact these control measures (social distancing, etc.) everywhere, even in places currently have low case numbers? (19:51) Are travel bans effective in slowing disease spread? (21:20) How can we tell if our control measures are working? (22:52) How soon do we expect to see the effect of these control measures? (24:00) There have been a lot of comparisons with seasonal influenza. How does COVID-19 compare to seasonal influenza and why are we taking such extreme measures to reduce the spread of this disease when we don't do so for seasonal influenza? (25:22) How well prepared was the US for this epidemic? (28:25) What have we learned so far to help us stop the spread of this pandemic and prepare for future pandemics? (31:19) What are the risks as this pandemic spreads to less well-resourced areas? (33:39)