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COVID, Quickly: A Pop-Up Podcast

Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between

How to Care for COVID at Home, and Is That Sniffle Allergies or the Virus? COVID Quickly, Episode 30

How to care for yourself when you’re sick at home with COVID, and how do you know when it’s just spring allergies making you sneeze, and not the virus?

Airdate: May 16, 2022


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Safer Indoor Air, and People Want Masks on Planes and Trains: COVID Quickly, Episode 29

Today, we’re going to talk about reducing infections by improving indoor air quality. And how a lot of people approve of masks on planes, and other precautions, despite what you see on the news.

Airdate: May 2, 2022


The Benefits of Hybrid Immunity and Venturing Back to the Office: COVID Quickly, Episode 28

Today we’ll talk about how vaccines boost immunity even if you’ve already been infected and how to handle going back to the office even though COVID is still around.

Airdate: April 15, 2022


Second Boosters, Masks in the Next Wave and Smart Risk Decisions: COVID Quickly, Episode 27

Today we’ll talk about the plan for a second vaccine booster shot, the prospects of a new COVID wave and whether people will put on masks to stop it and how to think about COVID risk when it comes to everyday activities.

Airdate: April 1, 2022


Florida Gets Kids and Vaccines Wrong and Ukraine’s Health Crisis: COVID Quickly, Episode 26

Today we’ll go over the evidence that vaccines help kids despite Florida’s absurd claims to the contrary. Then we’ll look at the war in Ukraine and its bad effects on COVID treatment and spread.

Airdate: March 18, 2022


COVID Quickly, Episode 25: The Push to Move Past the Pandemic

Today we’ll explain the new official methods to determine if you’re in a pandemic safe zone or danger area. Then we’ll discuss what other pandemics looked like when they were ending—and whether this one, at long last, is heading down a similar path.

Airdate: March 4, 2022


COVID Quickly, Episode 24: Tracking Outbreaks through Sewers, and Kids' Vaccines on Hold Again

Today: we’re going to talk about tracking COVID through the sewers and explain why vaccines for the littlest kids have been put on hold yet again.

Airdate: February 15, 2022


COVID Quickly, Episode 23: More Kids Get COVID, Long Haulers and a Vaccine Milestone

Today the giant Omicron wave looks like it may have peaked in the U.S. We’ll look at its unusual effects on two groups: children and people with long-haul COVID. And we’ll talk about a dramatic worldwide vaccine milestone.

Airdate: February 4, 2022


COVID Quickly, Episode 22: Colds Build COVID Immunity and the Omicron Vaccine Delay

Today new research shows how old cold viruses may help protect you against the coronavirus causing the pandemic, and vaccine makers are not rushing out shots against the Omicron variant, even though the original shots have lost some effectiveness. What’s the holdup? We’ll explain.

Airdate: January 19, 2022


COVID Quickly, Episode 21: Vaccines against Omicron and Pandemic Progress

Today we’ll be talking Omicron—particularly how vaccines and boosters protect against the new variant. And we’ll sum up what Americans have done this year to keep themselves and their communities safe.

Airdate: December 17, 2021


COVID Quickly, Episode 20: The Omicron Scare and Anti-COVID Pills Are Coming

Today we’ll discuss the Omicron variant, how scientists are figuring out if it’s really bad or not, what vaccines can do to protect you against it and the latest on antiviral pills.

Airdate: December 3, 2021


COVID Quickly, Episode 19: Mandate Roadblocks, Boosters for All and Sickness in the Zoo

On the docket today: a court imperils Biden’s big workplace vaccination mandate, booster shot eligibility expands, as does evidence the shots help, and zoo tigers and leopards get COVID and their own vaccine.

Airdate: November 19, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 18: Vaccines for Kids and the Limits of Natural Immunity

Today we’re going to talk about kids vaccines: the low risks and the considerable benefits and why the shots protect people better than previous COVID infections do.

Airdate: November 5, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 17: Vaccine Lies and Protecting Immunocompromised People

Today we’re going to discuss the latest lies about vaccines not working and ways to make them work better for immunocompromised people.

Airdate: October 22, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 16: Vaccines Protect Pregnancies and a New Antiviral Pill

Today we’re going to talk about why vaccines are safe for pregnant people, who are at higher risk of severe COVID and the arrival of a new COVID antiviral pill that could cut the risk of severe illness.

Airdate: October 8, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 15: Booster Shot Approvals—plus Vaccines for Kids?

Today we’re going to bust through the confusion about booster vaccines: who can get them and who can’t. And we’ll talk about one group that hasn’t even gotten first shots yet: kids under 12. We’ll discuss when that could finally happen.

Airdate: September 24, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 14: Best Masks, Explaining Mask Anger, Biden’s New Plan

Today: masks and why people resist wearing them despite all the evidence that they work; why the kind of mask you wear matters and how to find a good one; the details of President Biden’s latest update.

Airdate: September 10, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 13: Vaccine Approval, Breakthrough Infections, Boosters

Today we’re going to talk about the FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine, whether new reports of breakthrough infections mean vaccines are losing power and what you need to know about vaccine booster shots.

Airdate: August 27, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 12: Masking Up Again and Why People Refuse Shots

Today we’ll explain why the CDC now wants vaccinated people to wear masks indoors again. And we’ll discuss one big reason why some people still refuse to get vaccinated.

Airdate: July 30, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 11: Vaccine Booster Shots and Reopening Offices Safely

Today we’re talking about whether people need vaccine booster shots and how to tell if it’s COVID-safe—plus some things you can do to make it safer.

Airdate: July 16, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 10: Long Haulers, Delta Woes and Barbershop Shots

Today we’ll talk about clinics for long-haul COVID patients, the rise of the Delta variant and what you can do about it, and using barber shops to get vaccines to communities that need them most.

Airdate: July 1, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 9: Delta Variant, Global Vaccine Shortfalls, Beers for Shots

Today we’re talking about the danger of the Delta variant, the patchwork vaccine effort around the world, and getting free lottery tickets or beers with your shot in the U.S.

Airdate: June 18, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 8: The Pandemic's True Death Toll and the Big Lab-Leak Debate

Today we’re going to explain how COVID deaths have been seriously undercounted in many parts of the U.S. And we’ll discuss the raging debate over the origins of the pandemic virus: Was it a wild animal or a sloppy human lab?

Airdate: June 4, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 7: The Coming Pandemic Grief Wave and Mask Whiplash

Today we’re going to talk about an oncoming wave of disabling grief that could hit lots of people. And we’ll try to unconfuse you about the complicated new mask-wearing guidelines from the CDC.

Airdate: May 21, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 6: The Real Reason for India’s Surge and Mask Liftoff

Today we’re discussing whether human behavior or virus variants led to India’s COVID catastrophe. And we’ll talk about ways to make sense of the CDC’s new mask guidance and what it means when we’re coming out of the caves we’ve been in for the past year.

Airdate: May 7, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 5: Vaccine Safety in Pregnancy, Blood Clots and Long-Haul Realities

Today we’ll talk about why COVID vaccines seem safe for pregnancy and the rarity of blood clots with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the first strong data showing that COVID still hurts many people months after they first got sick.

Airdate: April 23, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 4: The Virtual Vaccine Line and Shots for Kids

Today we’re talking about when we’ll know if vaccines are safe for kids, why Biden’s claim that “everyone is eligible” for vaccines isn’t good enough and how a tiny country proved rapid testing can stop COVID spread.

Airdate: April 9, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 3: Vaccine Inequality—plus Your Body the Variant Fighter

Today we’re going to talk about the barriers Black and Latino people face in getting COVID vaccines, how your immune system strikes back against new coronavirus variants and what the heck is going on with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Airdate: March 26, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 2: Lessons from a Pandemic Year

Today, after a whole awful year of COVID, we’re going to talk about what we did wrong and what we’ve learned to do right. We’ll also be correcting an idea that the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine is second-rate and giving you news about some recent developments in COVID medicines.

Airdate: March 11, 2021


COVID, Quickly, Episode 1: Vaccines, Variants and Diabetes

Today we’re going to be talking about the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the race between declining cases and the rise of new virus variants, and new ideas about why the virus may trigger diabetes.

Airdate: February 26, 2021

Tanya Lewis is a senior editor covering health and medicine at Scientific American. She writes and edits stories for the website and print magazine on topics ranging from COVID to organ transplants. She also co-hosts Your Health, Quickly on Scientific American's podcast Science, Quickly and writes Scientific American's weekly Health & Biology newsletter. She has held a number of positions over her seven years at Scientific American, including health editor, assistant news editor and associate editor at Scientific American Mind. Previously, she has written for outlets that include Insider, Wired, Science News, and others. She has a degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University and one in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

More by Tanya Lewis

Josh Fischman is a senior editor at Scientific American who covers medicine, biology and science policy. He has written and edited about science and health for Discover, ScienceEarth, and U.S. News & World Report.Follow Josh Fischman on Twitter.

More by Josh Fischman

Jeff DelViscio is currently Chief Multimedia Editor/Executive Producer at Scientific American. He is former director of multimedia at STAT, where he oversaw all visual, audio and interactive journalism. Before that, he spent over eight years at the New York Times, where he worked on five different desks across the paper. He holds dual master's degrees from Columbia in journalism and in earth and environmental sciences. He has worked aboard oceanographic research vessels and tracked money and politics in science from Washington, D.C. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT in 2018. His work has won numerous awards, including two News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

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