WEBVTT - 400 Deaths Per Day 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.720 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:19.759 me your girl, Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.680 I'm very excited to welcome back to woke F Daily 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:28.320 our friend doctor Abduel el Sayed, author of Medicare for All, 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.040 hosts of the podcast America Dissected, and a public health 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.320 advocate that we've had on the show throughout the course 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.800 of the pandemic. I bring doctor el Sayed back to 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:49.480 the show because we haven't completed or risen above. Despite 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:54.279 what the Biden administration says COVID nineteen, we are still 0:00:54.760 --> 0:01:00.640 experiencing four hundred deaths a day, which amount to three 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:06.720 thousand people dying a week from COVID nineteen. We haven't 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:13.080 eradicated monkeypox. We haven't really understood what long COVID really 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:15.319 is because we only have two and a half years 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:17.840 of research because that's how long COVID has been around. 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.640 We don't know the longer term implications of what happens 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.679 to folks trying to get disability because they're no longer 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.200 able to work. Because there are some people who have 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:33.759 had COVID that are struggling immensely. But we just don't 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.560 talk about it. So how does President Biden saying and 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:43.440 announcing that the pandemic is over affect people's ability to 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:48.080 one have empathy, but also for public health advocates to 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.320 try and alert the public to the fact that while 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.680 we're not experiencing a surge with COVID now as we 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.559 have in the past two years, what doctor l Sayed 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.680 will say is that if you look at the UK, 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.240 which has been our canary in the coal mine every 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.040 time we're about to hit a surge, he says, COVID 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.840 nineteen numbers are up fifteen percent in the UK right now. 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:21.000 And climate we know by virtue of how climate change 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.760 is aggressively impacting now our day to day lives and 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.720 we're seeing, you know, these once in a century storms 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.640 every fucking year. He'll talk to us about the correlation 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:35.040 between these public health crises and the fact that we 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.000 will see another global health pandemic in our lifetime and 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:45.600 how it ties into climate change. Folks. You know, I 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.320 know that it is exhausting and at times we just 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.600 want to put one of these crises, at least one 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:53.600 of them, if not all of them, behind us. But 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.920 the thing is is that we're not learning. We're not 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:01.840 learning from anything because and we, as a president of 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.480 the United States announces mission accomplished and the mission is 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:10.240 far from being fucking over. That means we've stopped learning 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.840 and we've stopped educating, and that, if nothing else that 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:22.239 we've learned, spells fucking danger. So what do we do? 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:27.200 How do we move forward? How do we regain our 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:33.840 trust and faith and institutions that were rocked by COVID nineteen. 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.560 So this conversation coming up next with our friend doctor 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:44.640 Abdul Lsed will lay bare, you know, frankly, folks, where 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:49.200 we are right now with the virus, where we are headed, 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:57.400 and how critical the upcoming midterm elections are to understanding 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:02.960 how we build a robust health infrastructure that is prepared 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:17.320 to meet these impending crises. The Damage Report with John 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:19.760 Idarola is one of the most popular shows on the 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.760 TYT Network that serves as your daily breakdown of the 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.760 genuine threats and challenges facing our country and world. These days, 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.000 we're confronted with an overwhelming sea of shocking, confounding, and 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.719 devastating news stories. The Damage Report is your life raft, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.680 helping you navigate the day's news and understand the damage 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:41.040 caused by the corrupt establishment, politicians, corporations, and everything in between. 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.000 Join The Damage Report's notorious fan club, the Dragon Squad, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.240 where you become part of the fantastic community of progressives. 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.840 Create a fun dragon nickname that fits your personality, collaborate 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:55.400 and participate in fun activities like voting for the Garbage 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.920 Person of the Week, and much more. Listen to The 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:02.240 Damage Report on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.760 If you like what you here, be sure to subscribe 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:12.240 so you never miss an episode. Friends, I am very 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:16.640 happy to welcome back to WOK. It's been way too long. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.200 Doctor Abduel el Sayid, who you know, is the host 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:25.120 of America Dissected. He is the author of Medicare for 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.200 All and Healing Politics, and a public health doctor that 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:33.200 makes his rounds on cable news and in other spaces 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.240 to educate us on what is happening in this country 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.960 and around the world as it pertains to public health. 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:47.480 Welcome back. I want to start with the obvious, which 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:52.000 is a couple of weeks ago. President Biden was on 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:57.440 sixty Minutes and he's walking around the Detroit Auto Show. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.000 No one is in a mask. It's the first time 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.360 that the auto show is taking place in three years, 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:09.800 and he says, the pandemic is over. Your reaction, a 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.440 good doctor, your reaction to that, you know, the hard 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.520 part is that you think about all of the folks 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:21.880 who are yet in hospitals, who are yet dying four 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:26.120 hundred a day about and all the folks who are 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.480 so scarred by long COVID, and you have to ask 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.080 whether or not it's prudent to call this over. But 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.440 then the bigger question is this The thing about a 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.800 pandemic is that you can't really call it over from 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:39.840 where you sit, kind of like a hurricane. You don't 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.599 really see the edges of the storm. And it could 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.040 be that the lull in the storm is the end 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:46.479 of the storm, or it could be that it's the 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.279 eye of the storm. And while we've been lucky not 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:53.039 to have a fall surge as we've had for every 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.200 year of COVID so far, yet that's not to say 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.320 that it's not coming. In fact, you look at in 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.800 the UK, which has been sort of a harbinger of 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.000 things to come in the US, their cases are up 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.440 fifteen percent over the past two weeks, which suggests that 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.720 this still could be coming. The other aspect of this 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.480 is that you know, we think we are we have 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:17.240 reached pretty close to the most efficient variant of omicron. 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:21.240 When I say efficient meaning the most immunovasive combination between 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:26.120 immune evasive and transmissible. And yet it's plausible that while 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:30.000 we're expecting the virus to zig i e. We are 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:36.640 vaccinating people against the BA five subvariant, that it could zact, 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:40.040 that there could be a whole new line or play 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.720 of variants that arise. We don't know what this virus 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:45.920 has in store, and so it's just it's a little 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:52.400 bit frustrating to watch a president triumphantly declare that we 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.080 have one mission accomplished when we actually don't really know 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:57.600 that that's the case. And the last thing I'll say 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.560 is this is that the reason this matters, and it's 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:03.400 not just a matter of what we say, is that 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.559 the administration, while the President has declared the pandemic over, 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:10.280 the administration has been making an ask of Congress to 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:16.000 fund all of the COVID diagnostics and the treatments and 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:21.160 vaccines that we need should there be another another another search. 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.280 And so this just undercuts that in a pretty profound way. 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.520 So it's not just semantics here. It's not just you know, 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.000 throwing a lot of assault in the wounds for people 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.000 with a long COVID. It's actually undercutting the administration's own 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.040 effort to be able to deal with the next search 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:35.640 such that we can get to a point. But the 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.680 pandemic really is over. But the hard part is you 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.959 can't really declare it from inside and where we are. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.600 And and I worry that when people listen to the 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:47.240 President they'll take what he's saying over seriously as congret 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:51.240 Congress people of the Republican Party have and say, well, 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.160 if the pandemic's over, why would we be funding this right? 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.000 You know, the people who listen to WIKA f know 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.760 that after were two years of dodging the virus. Myself, 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.559 I caught it Labor Day weekend while I was outside 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.800 at an outside family event. It wasn't even like an 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:17.199 outside concert. It was like an outside family barbecue. And 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.480 I caught COVID and thankfully, you know, I had very 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:29.160 mild symptoms. Thankfully I did not require the anti viral treatment. 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.480 I just kind of wrote it out in my apartment. 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.360 It was more frustrating and annoying. But the entire time 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.680 I was thanking doctors, I was thanking science. I was 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:40.640 thanking researchers for the ability to be able to ride 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.000 out this thing that was inside of my body, that 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:45.800 is still inside of my body, that has killed millions 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.560 of people. And so, you know, one of the things 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:50.360 that I want to ask you about is the fact 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:56.600 that we still don't really know about the long term 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:01.280 implications of long COVID and and you know, and it's 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:06.240 something that isn't being spoken about because there are people who, 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:11.320 like myself, have you know, COVID finally caught up with them. 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.679 I have friends and colleagues that have had brain fog. 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.320 I did not have brain fog. They are continuing past 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:24.040 having tested negative these symptoms casually coming back. And so 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:29.040 how do you think that we should be speaking about 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.120 and public health experts like your self should be speaking 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:37.240 about long term COVID and what we think, you know, 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:42.239 possibly worst case scenario, what the implications are for our workforce, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.800 right for disability moving forward. Yeah, you raise a really 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:49.480 important point. First, I want to say, I'm sorry to 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.199 hear that you had the disease, and I'm also grateful 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.400 that it wasn't so serious, but you join literally millions 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.439 and millions and millions of Americans who've had COVID. I 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:03.040 was infected back in April, as was my whole family, 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:08.079 and the consequences of that for you and me has 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:09.960 meant that we got a bit sick for a couple 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.880 of days and then we got over it. But we 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.920 don't actually know what the long long term consequences of 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.360 this virus are. What we do understand is that for 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:23.800 people who are who are infected, some proportion upwards of 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:27.640 ten to twenty percent will develop a set of chronic 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.320 symptoms that we call long COVID. But we don't really 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.320 understand the path of physiology of it, why it's happening, 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.480 or how to treat it, or what the long long 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.120 term consequences might be. Because let's remember, right what we 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.400 call shingles. Before it's shingles, it's chicken pox. And what 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:48.320 tends to happen is right that that virus we now understand, 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.480 goes dormant in a piece of your spinal cord, only 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.079 to come out when your immune system is weak and 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.359 follow its pathway down your neuron to a very picular 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:05.880 part of your skin in effect caused another clinical infection phase, 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.760 and we don't know what is dormant in our bodies. 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.959 We don't know what the long term consequences will be, 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.960 So what we really have to be planning around both 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.880 for people with what I'll call acute long COVID, which 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.240 is kind of a weird way of thinking about it, 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.880 but you know, the long COVID that comes immediately after 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:27.480 an infection versus the potential for a we'll call it 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:32.120 longer COVID that comes after a phase of dormancy. We 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.079 had a plan for that in terms of the very 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.679 structures of our society. And let's be clear, we live 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:38.679 in America right now, we're nine percent of the people 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:43.319 don't have health insurance at all. Another fifteen to twenty 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.120 percent could be liable to lose their health insurance because 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.520 it's it's it's rickety, because it's underfunded by conservatives through medicaid, 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.320 or live in states where Medicaid was never expanded in 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.880 the first place. And then for everyone else, unless you're 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:01.360 on Medicare, which Republicans never stop trying to attack to 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:06.960 justify Medicare advantage a privatized version, you are liable to 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.240 lose your health insurance if you lose a job, or 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:11.360 if you turn twenty six, or if you get married, 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.439 or if you get divorced, or if they decide to 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.640 randomly jack up the price on you or your business 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:18.800 such that you can't afford it even if you are eligible, 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.080 and so we do not have a firm healthcare system 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.439 in our country. Guaranteeing that for people is mission critical, 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.360 particularly now considering the fact that tens of millions of 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.160 people will have long COVID in tens of millions more 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.800 are liable potentially to have a longer COVID should that happen. 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.959 And the problem is, we just don't know. Nobody's ever 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.120 had COVID in their bodies longer than two and a a 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:40.880 half years, simply because it didn't exist before two and 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:42.440 a half years. And so we've got the plan around 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.800 the potentiality, and we already know that there are enough 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.040 people who have chronic symptoms that can be very debilitating 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:53.079 and depleting, and those people deserve and need our society 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.200 to step up and make sure that they have the 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.560 care they need and that they and their families are 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.720 taken care of if they can't work. You know, you 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:06.360 would think that one of the examples of a strong, 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:11.160 you know, democratic society would be how it takes care 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.360 of the least among it, right, like, how how people 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:19.320 are cared for and the sturdiness of our systems, whether 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.320 it be public health, public schools, and so on and 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:25.800 so forth. And what we have seen is over the 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:31.160 last couple of years, the cracks, the purposeful in a 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.760 lot of ways, cracks in our systems have been exacerbated 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.200 and have been pushed, you know, past their breaking point. 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:44.880 Part of that crack also is people's trust in public health, 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:49.040 in the CDC, in the WHO and so you know, 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:53.480 here I want to ask you is how does one 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:58.480 both restore faith in these agencies that were tested I 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:03.880 think to some extent and you know, beyond repair over 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:08.680 the last three years, in the fact that decisions were 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.440 made and continue to be made about COVID that are 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.720 really about capitalism, that are really about getting people to 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.920 work back to work as quickly as possible, because you know, 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:21.160 I would tell you that after five days of sitting 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.800 on the couch behind me, I would have never been 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.960 able to go back to anybody's office, right Like I 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.800 was exhausted and I had again the COVID symptoms that 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.800 I had were mild, So I can't imagine people the 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.280 CDC coming out and saying, well, just slap on a 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.680 mask and going to work with a mask. So I'm 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:45.520 wondering what you think about the position that the public 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.960 public health is an industry is in and the faith 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:55.080 and trust that people have in in these systems. Now, 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.360 you know, I'll tell you, long before COVID, we have 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:05.160 had a ruthless approach to thinking about the exchange of 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:10.880 labor for money in America, and we tell people that 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:15.240 they ought to get all access to all of these services, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:20.520 including their very healthcare, by working, and then when they 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:25.600 cannot work, we take these things away. And all that 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:31.880 does is demonstrate the moral bankruptcy inherent in forcing people 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.840 into a set of institution that under pay and under deliver, 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:38.240 and for which they're told to rely on the very 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:40.680 basic means of a dignified life, like being able to 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.040 get healthcare when you get sick. So how does it 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.600 happen that you know, when you get sick, you can't work, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.040 and then you lose your healthcare to be able to 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:48.880 treat you to get sick so you can work. I mean, 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.560 the thing doesn't make sense on its own terms. The 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.280 other part of it, though, is that these institutions generally, 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:01.360 they need to fundamentally be rebuilt in and rethought. I think, 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:05.280 you know, we've had a set of public health institutions that, 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:06.959 you know, the people who work inside of them are 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.240 great people who care a lot about the people in 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:12.440 our country and the people that they serve. But they've 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.560 been underserved by institutions that have been robbed of the 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.119 funding that they need to be able to do the 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.080 work that they do. And so they've been shells of 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.280 themselves for a very long time, and they just haven't 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.600 been tested. And I'll be honest with you, COVID was 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.480 a gnarly public health problem. You're talking about a virus 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.639 that's airborne that we didn't understand, that was very different 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.280 than the most similar virus to it. We didn't have treatments, 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.560 we didn't have vaccine. But monkeypox is not monkeypox is 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.200 the one oh one of public health. This is a 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.280 virus that we had well characterized for decades, We had 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.720 available vaccines, we knew how it spread. It has an 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:53.760 extremely long latency period, an incubation period, so you can 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.919 vaccinate somebody within ten days of an exposure and reliably 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.359 prevent them from ever having symptoms at all. And we 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.879 still just couldn't do it. And so what I think 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.840 has happened is that, you know, the massive hurricane, if 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.399 you will, of COVID came and destroyed our very rickety 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.240 public health institutions, and then we never really rebuilt them, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.439 and that brings us I think back to the statement 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.960 by the President, which I found really frustrating. It wasn't 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.040 the pandemic is over, but we learned a lot of lessons, 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.560 and we need to rebuild our public health agencies so 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.159 nothing like this ever happens again, and we need to 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.160 make sure that we're protecting and taking care of people 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:30.399 who still may die of the virus. And we need 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:32.800 to make sure that we're invested in a far more 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:36.520 stable disability system so that people with along COVID are 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:40.600 not hurt by this. It was the pandemic's over, Let's 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.680 move on. And when you say we're going to move on, 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:48.200 what that basically does forecloses on all of the reconstruction, 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.879 the rebuilding that needs to happen, because well, if you 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.479 rob both, you know, the Republicans moved on the day 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.760 before COVID started. Let's be clear, and then if Democrats 0:18:57.800 --> 0:18:59.760 are moving on, like, where's the political will to make 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.320 sure that we're never here again? And that has to 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.760 continue to be part of the conversation. And so long 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.480 as we don't allow it to be part of the conversation, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.640 we're not going to do it. And the next time 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.000 a very serious virus hits us, it could be more devastating. 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:15.600 And the thing I want folks to understand is, yes, 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.000 this was a quote unquote once in a century pandemic 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:19.480 in an era where we have once in a century 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.040 hurricanes every single time. So you know that we're gonna 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:23.680 have another. Like the idea that we're not going to 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:28.280 have another virus anytime soon is I think wishful thinking. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.240 And so let's make sure that our house is in 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:35.040 order before the next one hits. Hey, I'm David plots 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:39.760 a slice political gab Fest. As another election season accelerates, 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.399 it can be tricky to sort through all the noise 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:45.520 and the news. Each week on the gap Fest, John Dickerson, 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.800 Emily Bathlon and I decipher the headlines, break down the races, 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.280 and tell you what issues really matter. We do not 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.800 always agree. We definitely do not always agree, but we 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:59.000 always deliver thoughtful debate and we always have a good time. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:05.600 So subscrib drive to slates Political Gapfest new episodes every Thursday. 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.320 You know, you make such a good, solid comparison to 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:13.480 these hurricanes, to these once in a lifetime fires, to 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:18.360 these once in a lifetime tornado seasons, because they're not right. 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.960 They're becoming ever more frequent. And you know, one of 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:22.440 the things that I do want to ask you, and 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.000 maybe you don't know, but you can hypothesize for us, 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:30.160 is you know, the correlation between the possibility of new 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:34.280 viruses and climate change, right, and the fact that you 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.880 have the waters that are warming, the fact that we 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.560 have deforestation, the fact that you know, we're talking about 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:43.720 glaciers that are melting, that are letting out This is 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.360 no joke by nat GEO. I saw the other day 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:51.800 letting out bacteria in the air that hasn't been airborne 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:56.320 in a billion years. We have no idea what its 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:01.920 compatibility is with our current atmosphere. So what are your 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:09.280 thoughts about the correlation between public health and climate change? Yeah, 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.119 so there's no one way to attribute anyone virus, but 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.840 there's a clear mechanism that is linking climate change to 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:24.040 the emergence of more and more rare or novel pathogens. 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:26.680 You know the fact that we had a covid pandemic 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:28.760 and then monkey pocks sort of emerged, and then we 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.919 have a Nui bowla outbreak all the same moment. I 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:35.960 think we really ought to sort of cock our eyes 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:38.399 at that and take a real hard look, And the 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:42.920 mechanism is pretty clear. These kinds of viruses jump into 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:47.919 humans when the animals that carry them in which they 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:52.840 are reservoirs or for which they are reservoirs, tend to 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:57.040 add mix with humanity more commonly. So as we DeForest 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.760 more and more of our forests, the wildlife that was 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:04.560 in the forests is coming closer to human habitats because 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:09.400 they're losing their homes literally, And when that admixture happens, right, 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.160 the risk that a virus or a bacterium that had 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.000 been resident and what we say endemic in animals that 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.960 are you know, causing like a common cold for them, 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:24.359 can jump into humanity where we are completely immune naive, 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:27.359 meaning our immune systems have never seen these viruses and 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:29.679 then start to spread like wildfire and cause serious illness. 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:32.199 I mean, that's what we think happened with COVID. You know, 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:35.239 monkeypoxes is actually it's not even a monkey disease. It's 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:37.720 a rodent disease that that was first discovered in monkeys 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:40.480 when it jumped into monkeys. But the more we start 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:43.960 destroying animal habitats, the more likely it is that these 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.320 animals are going to try and find new habitats amongst us, 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:49.600 and the more likely it is that the pathogens that 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:53.160 they're carrying are going to jump into us. And so 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:56.199 there is a clear connection there and that should be 0:22:56.240 --> 0:23:01.280 really worrisome for everyone. You know, With a few minutes 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:03.960 that I have left with you, I do want to 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:07.080 address where we are with monkey pox, and then I 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:10.040 want to wrap up by looking at the midterms and 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:12.800 getting your thoughts on how public health is going to 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.560 be playing into the outcome of the midterm elections, or 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:18.680 should be if you don't think that it is. But 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:24.720 you know, monkeypox comes onto the scene and everyone who 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:29.800 was alive or remembers learning about the AIDS epidemic and 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:34.960 crisis had a series of horrible flashbacks because once again 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:38.720 the United States did a bang up job in making 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:43.400 it seem as if this disease was going to stay 0:23:43.440 --> 0:23:48.160 within the LGBTQ community, particularly men who sleep with men 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:52.040 and by virtue of doing so, even if that is 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:58.560 where it began, right, we know we should know that 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:03.919 nothing stays where it is now. Right. COVID began in China, 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:07.960 it didn't stay there, Right, So what was the point 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:12.680 do you think I've duel in the fact of the 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:19.159 media public health officials sounding the alarm not dissimilarly to 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:22.000 the way that they did HIV AIDS, which then made 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:25.439 it dismissable. If you're like, well, I don't check that box, 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:29.480 so this ain't about me. Yeah, you're raising a really 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:33.080 important point. And the degree to which we have a 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:38.960 really terrible history in public health and medicine dismissing diseases 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:43.199 that are either more commonly found or emerge among the 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:49.720 LGBTQ community is shame. On the one hand, the institutions 0:24:50.160 --> 0:24:52.960 in question had to do a far better job than 0:24:53.000 --> 0:24:55.920 they did, and their logic would have been, we need 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:59.800 to alert people about what they can do themselves. But 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:03.159 when part of that is to provide a vaccine, and 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:05.119 part of what you're asking them to do is to 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:10.960 get vaccinated. When you don't have enough vaccine because you 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:17.440