Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina on The Ezra Klein Show

Katelyn Jetelina, aka Your Local Epidemiologist, was one of the trusted voices during the pandemic who was able to translate the public health science into something the rest of us could understand.

Although some may want to just leave the pandemic behind, the session is a useful review of the last 3.5 years.  As Jetelina says, it's more about listening to the questions and contemplating your own answers.  This is how we begin to heal from the collective trauma of the pandemic and prepare for the future.

Listen for free at Podcast Republic.   Look for the August 29, 2023 episode: It’s Time to Talk About ‘Pandemic Revisionism’ Should schools have been closed down? Were lockdowns a mistake? Was masking even effective? Was the economic stimulus too big?These are the questions that have defined the national conversation about Covid in recent months. They have been the subject of congressional hearings led by Republicans, of G.O.P. candidate stump speeches and of too many Twitter debates to count.Katelyn Jetelina is an epidemiologist and the author of the popular newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist. She argues that we’ve entered a new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic: “pandemic revisionism.” In her telling, the revisionist impulse seduces us into swapping cheap talking points for the thorny, difficult decisions we actually faced — and may face again with the next novel virus.So this conversation centers on the myths — and realities — associated with how we remember the pandemic. It explores what the evidence on the effectiveness of masking says, the fact that the United States was locked down for less than two months, the surprising consensus over social-distancing policy among Democratic and Republican governors early in the pandemic, why the tale of Sweden’s controversial approach to the pandemic is misleading, why the American media paid so much more attention to the first 100,000 U.S. Covid deaths than to the next 900,000, why school closures weren’t as wrongheaded a policy as often portrayed in hindsight, whether Donald Trump gets enough credit for Operation Warp Speed and more.This episode was hosted by David Wallace-Wells, a writer at The New York Times Magazine and the author of “The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming.” He also writes a newsletter for New York Times Opinion that explores climate change, technology, the future of the planet and how we live on it.Book Recommendations:Lessons from the Covid War by Covid Crisis GroupOpen by Andre AgassiLessons in Chemistry by Bonnie GarmusThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Emefa Agawu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our senior editor is Rogé Karma. The show’s production team also includes Rollin Hu and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Sonia Herrero. From Katelyn Jetelina: I’m sharing not so you listen to my answers. (I actually don’t think there is one answer to these questions.) Instead, I hope you listen to the questions and contemplate your answers. I’ve found it helpful in processing this life-altering event and a start to heal from collective trauma. Self-reflection, open conversations, and listening—the only way to learn and be better prepared for the future. The recording, transcript, attributions, and my book recommendations (in typical Ezra Klein fashion) can all be found HERE. It’s 65 minutes, so grab your coffee and get comfortable. Me in the recording studio for this show a few weeks ago Love, YLE “Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE)” is written by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH Ph.D.—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. During the day, she is a senior scientific consultant to several organizations. At night she writes this newsletter. Her main goal is to “translate” the ever-evolving public health world so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. Brought to your attention by Ascension Wisconsin Library Services.