If you haven’t had COVID by now, you almost certainly know at least a couple of people who have suffered through it. You may even have a lost a close family member or a friend, although that seems to be relatively rare – for the moment. Aside from the threat that this new coronavirus poses to our health, it’s also taken a big toll on the economy. It’s upended careers, shortening some and derailed or redirected others. Not every business made it through. And if you were a teacher, a student, or a parent over the last couple of years, you know that things are going to take a long time to get back to where they were. Something about COVID opened a floodgate of frustration with our schools, and if you haven’t listened to the first three episodes of this podcast, cue them up after this one.
It was tough on everyone, but no one had it as bad as the front-line health-care workers. At some point, I want to sit down have a long talk with some of them. But first, it seemed like a good idea to review Polk County’s COVID experience with Josh Kennedy. As head of the county’s health and human services agency, he was responsible for overseeing local efforts to respond to the pandemic. I joined him at the Womack Building in Columbus to discuss what went wrong, what went right — hey, the news isn’t all bad — and how we can deal with the next one. Because there will be another pandemic at some point. And because there is no global or national response plan in place, it will again be up to each county — and county staff — to figure out what to do.
Further Reading:
The numbers on vaccine hesitancy:
https://theconversation.com/misinformation-will-be-rampant-when-it-comes-to-covid-19-shots-for-young-children-heres-what-you-can-do-to-counter-it-185666
The threat the unvaccinated pose to the rest of us:
https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.212105
Can we change anyone's mind about vaccines:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10069-3