Explore every episode of the podcast Public Health is Dead
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introducing Public Health is Dead | 24 Oct 2024 | 00:02:39 | |
If you have a feeling something isn’t quite right in the world of disease control... This show is for you! Dearly Beloved, welcome to Public Health is Dead. Public health as we know it is failing us. And you deserve to know. Check out www.publichealthisdead.com to learn more and sign up for updates. This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| Here Lies Public Health | 29 Nov 2024 | 00:22:52 | |
What is public health? A quick intro to the show, your host, and what to expect. Public health may be dead but we're not dead yet! *** You'll understand how everything is connected to public health, why we need this podcast now, and why it's focused on COVID. Climate change, capitalism, and constant global travel have created a feedback loop and ushered in the era of pandemics. Old-timey diseases are waking up next to new ones, the organizations and leaders that are supposed to be controlling diseases appear to have given up. So it looks like it’s up to us. Public health may be dead but we’re not dead yet! Public Health is Dead will gather a bunch of people resisting public health failures to share their knowledge and experiences and hopefully help us survive in these times. This show might be the very thing that helps you through the storms ahead. FYI It’s a bad idea for you to take medical advice from podcasts. Good thing Public Health is Dead does not offer medical advice! The point of this show is to share experiences and information that might help public health as a field and increase our collective knowledge. As always, if you have particular medical concerns of your own you should talk to your medical providers. CREDITS Episode photo by Daniella Barreto This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| Long COVID: The Experts Were Wrong with Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly and Hazie Thompson | 29 Nov 2024 | 01:02:31 | |
Could you have Long COVID and not know it? Possibly, according to a leading Long COVID physician-epidemiologist who explains what the condition is and how it has impacted millions of people around the world. We also meet someone living with Long COVID who shares what the experience has been like for them. More than 400 million people (and counting) are affected by Long COVID around the world. Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly is a physician-epidemiologist and TIME 100 Health awardee in St. Louis. He is one of the world’s leading Long COVID researchers. As we approach the grim 5th anniversary of the COVID pandemic, he joins Daniella on Public Health is Dead to outline a major public health challenge of our time: If we don't die, what happens to many of us after we survive a COVID infection? Especially if we keep getting reinfected? Dr. Al-Aly explains what listening to patients allows the best researchers to do, addresses some of the common rebuttals to his team’s study data, and shares his recommendations to help turn this public health failure around. People with Long COVID have been dismissed and ignored to everyone’s disadvantage because more people keep joining the ranks. There’s a lot of research. There are a lot of reports. But our public health leaders are pretty quiet about what Long COVID can do to us. Something’s getting lost in translation. And you deserve to know. CREDITS This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| An Air-Raising Experience at the Orpheum Theatre | 22 Dec 2024 | 00:30:20 | |
A field trip to the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver to learn more about their ventilation system, built after the 1918 flu pandemic. Ladies and Gentlethems, the show you’ve all been waiting for, the show that will keep you glued to your seat! A show all about preventing diseases and pathogens and, sometimes, things that go bump in the night. Join Daniella on a journey through the belly of an old vaudeville venue, the Orpheum Theatre, in Vancouver, Canada, to learn a bit about how it keeps pathogens in the air at bay. We've known that fresh air is good for us for a very long time but it doesn't always translate to the air we breathe indoors. We also meet a savvy Twitter/X user who measured the carbon dioxide levels in the theatre and, to the surprise of many, revealed that the Orpheum had excellent ventilation. How does a building so old get such good numbers? And what could it mean for disease control in other places? RESOURCES CREDITS MUSIC This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| Something's in the Air (The Airborne Transmission Error) | 09 Mar 2025 | 00:54:41 | |
How a mixup about airborne transmission led to one of the biggest public health errors in history. 5 years since the COVID pandemic began, public health has yet to clearly address it. A lot of disease spread happens through the air we share. And most people don’t know. Over the last century, our growing understanding of pathogens and the ways they spread allowed public health to mitigate, eliminate, and even eradicate diseases in many parts of the world. We thought we knew it all. But pride comes before a fall. Public health has been missing a big part of how diseases like COVID spread and it's cost us a lot. Join your host, Daniella, to learn how a group of aerosol scientists teamed up with Dr. Katie Randall, a medical rhetorician and historian, and toppled the house of cards holding up the idea that sprayed droplets are the main route of respiratory disease transmission. Small aerosols that we constantly breathe out can be suspended in the air and carry pathogens that cause disease. This is airborne transmission. How did public health leaders dismiss airborne transmission for so long even though we've known about it for TB, measles, and SARS for decades? And, now that scientists understand much more about how diseases spread, how can public health adapt to protect us? Dr. Al Haddrell, an aerosol scientist, walks us through how aerosol works and how we can interrupt disease transmission with new knowledge. Something’s in the air... and it might be a paradigm shift. RESOURCES
CREDITS This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| How to Stop an Epidemic: When SARS Came to the ER | 21 May 2025 | 00:58:40 | |
In March 2003, one SARS patient showed up in a Vancouver emergency room and another went to a Toronto emergency room. But two very different sequences of events unfolded. Dr. Lyne Filiatrault was working in the Vancouver ER that day. Her team leapt into action and—with a little luck and a lot of preparation—prevented SARS from spreading at the hospital. A government agency immediately put in protections and built a firewall against SARS in BC, protecting staff, patients, and the public. Nobody died. In Toronto, however, SARS exploited a system unprepared for the unknown. It was the largest outbreak outside Asia. It shook the city and left healthcare workers and patients under-informed and under-protected. 44 people died. Many more contracted it as it was left to smoulder beneath shoddy protections. In the aftermath, the SARS Commission report detailed the far-reaching failures in Toronto and how great work from healthcare workers and science advisors staved off a far worse outcome. The report laid out instructions for how to avoid such a preventable public health tragedy in the future. TRANSCRIPT HERE (04:26) Chapter 1: Vancouver - Dr. Filiatrault's story *Correction: throughout this episode I refer to Scarborough Grace Hospital as Scarborough General Hospital, which is incorrect. Scarborough Grace Hospital is now called Birchmount Hospital and exists under the umbrella of the Scarborough Health Network, which also includes a Scarborough General Hospital. LINKS/RESOURCES What makes a good public health leader CREDITS *As this episode mentions, a disproportionate number of healthcare workers who keep the system running in Canada are Filipino. The Filipino community in Vancouver is reeling from a violent attack at this year's Lapu Lapu festival. Much of the healthcare we have access to in Canada works because of the frontline labour of Filipino people, many who are women and immigrants. If you can, instead of chipping in to support this episode, please consider sending funds to the community-led Kapwa fund *to support people affected by this awful event.**\ --- This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| SPECIAL: "But My Therapist Said"—COVID-Informed Therapists Chat | 28 Jun 2025 | 01:04:48 | |
Ever heard anyone say they can't care about COVID anymore because it's bad for their mental health? Or their therapist said people still masking have "COVID anxiety"? Well, here are three mental health professionals who have a thing or two to say about that! Meet Pierre, Briana, and Ji-Youn, who share their perspectives on what the Western therapy world is often missing when it comes to COVID and collective care. Like we often say on the show, all systems of oppression are connected. NOTE: We recorded this conversation in early November 2024. This chat special is a bit of a departure from the regular narrative style episodes you’re used to on Public Health is Dead but you are in for some gems. It reaffirms choosing to care about each other by resisting COVID, ableism, and white supremacy. "We keep us safe" has to mean something! Find Pierre at Queering Psychology, Briana at her website, and Ji-Youn at their website. CREDITS
N.B. It’s a bad idea for you to take medical advice from podcasts. Good thing this show does not offer medical advice! The point of Public Health is Dead is to share experiences and information that might help public health as a field and increase our collective knowledge. As always, if you have particular personal medical concerns of your own you should talk to your own medical providers. This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| PHMC - Still Masking After All These Years | 16 Jul 2025 | 00:53:31 | |
This is Public Health Media Club—a chatty and critical exchange about public health in the media! *This episode pairs nicely with the previous special episode on Public Health is Dead, "But My Therapist Said"* IMPORTANT: Let us know if you like this format! And if you want us to continue making crossover episodes like this. Follow MJ's show "Everything is Public Health" here. This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| PHMC - Measles on the Backburner | 03 Sep 2025 | 01:01:10 | |
Canada could lose its measles elimination status, which says a lot about the state of public health overall. Media coverage leaves much to be desired when it comes to informing the public about measles vaccines, airborne transmission, and social determinants of health, especially with a new school year beginning. Daniella & MJ chew over the hits, swings, and misses in a recent measles episode of CBC Frontburner ("Canada has a measles problem", May 16, 2025). Resources CREDITS To PHID listeners: ~Thanks for listening to this late summer crossover! Public Health is Dead post-summer production will be ramping up again. The horrors persist but so do we~ This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| Bad Press: How the media manufactures consent in the age of COVID | 28 Nov 2025 | 01:15:47 | |
Most people get a lot of what they know about public health from what’s in the news. But what’s in the news—and the way it’s talked about—is not always clear or accurate.
This episode tracks how the media has contributed to the alarming decline of public health and played a role in blocking meaningful understanding and action on COVID. What is reported and how it's framed can have a huge impact on what people think and how they behave. And if public health leaders are the ones sending foggy messages through unquestioning journalists, it becomes difficult to address collective health threats—now and in the future.
The interplay between public health institutions, politicians, and the media is so powerful it affects who suffers, who survives, and who doesn’t. And with the certainty of future pandemics coming along, honest and clear news media that serves the public can be a lifeline. It’s long past time to change the COVID narrative.
We talk to journalist, Julia Doubleday of The Gauntlet and researcher/science communicator, Kayli Jamieson about media narratives, propaganda, and why it's become so hard to get good COVID coverage as the pandemic smoulders on. This episode also features Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, former Technical Lead for COVID-19 at the World Health Organization.
Note: When this episode discusses communications about COVID vaccines and effectiveness, it refers to mRNA vaccines against COVID generally. Presently, other vaccines like Novavax, which may perform better in some measures, are unavailable in Canada.
Find Julia at thegauntlet.news and Kayli on Instagram @wandering
We had some audio recording and technical issues with this episode but pulled through thanks to the painstaking work of our amazing mixer/sound designer/musician, Alexandria Maillot. The transcript is available on the episode webpage. CREDITS
This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| SPECIAL: Beyond Baggy Blues—how to stop COVID in hospitals | 25 Dec 2025 | 00:41:15 | |
If you go into hospital, you shouldn’t have to worry about getting more sick. Many people get COVID, flu, and other airborne infections from being in hospital, even though it’s preventable. This is a policy failure. And it's fixable. This interview was recorded in early 2025. RESOURCES CREDITS This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| Legacies of Colonialism in Public Health | 15 Apr 2026 | 01:08:16 | |
Public health has been used as a tool of empire for centuries. Keeping settlers healthy enough to maintain colonial control over land, resources, and capital is a part of public health’s history. It’s also part of its present. *Content Note: This episode contains mentions of residential schools and colonial violence. (Transcript HERE). In this episode, hear about Renee Bach, an ill-famed recent character in the long line of drop-in missionaries or "voluntourists" who go to Africa to “help” poor people and end up doing a lot of harm. Featured guest, Professor Matiangai Sirleaf, discusses her paper “White Health in International Law”, breaks down how the interests of whiteness have always been at the forefront of public health globally. How has the COVID pandemic response reinforced global hierarchies of care and concern? Can public health move towards emancipatory futures? We hear about show host Daniella’s university exchange trip to Ghana as an African-born immigrant to Canada, why race is usually not relevant to public health research but *racism* is, how experiments on Indigenous children shaped Canada’s food policy, and the little-known history of the Hepatitis B vaccine—a public health advancement which has been under recent scrutiny (for the wrong reasons) by RFK Jr. and his public health demolition crew. We also meet Daniella’s mom, an immunologist who shares her experience as a medical doctor in Zimbabwe and her response to growing anti-vax ideas in the West. Epidemiology methods partly grew from the massive data and surveillance possibilities that existed in captured populations. This same data collection and surveillance can perpetuate harm, especially when AI is involved. Hear how First Nations communities have established OCAP® (Ownership, Control, Access, Possession) in response to harmful research practices in the past. Has public health shed its colonial lens? And what do these legacies of colonialism mean for addressing ongoing and future pandemics? RESOURCES
CREDITS ---- Visit the episode webpage for an AirFanta air purifier discount code for listeners! This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| PHMC - Everything is Tuberculosis | 21 Jan 2026 | 00:44:44 | |
Book report! What Daniella & MJ liked and didn't like about John Green's newest book, "Everything is Tuberculosis". Written in the age of COVID, does he address the thing TB is known for: airborne disease transmission? Can he separate himself from tired old tropes of white saviourism in Africa? Do we think the book does enough to challenge the systems producing inequity in the first place? Hit play and our opinions will be revealed! RESOURCES
(Note/Correction: Daniella quotes a sentence from the book that says "Inuit people" but this is redundant as Inuit means "the people" in Inuktitut therefore should have only said "Inuit".)
This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||
| TIME for Pandemic Gaslighting | 24 Apr 2026 | 00:57:32 | |
This is a piece from the "pandemic-is-over-bro-just-trust-us" hall of fame. Daniella & MJ (host of "Everything is Public Health") deconstruct TIME magazine's "The COVID-19 Pandemic Will Be Over When Americans Think It Is" from January 2023. This one has it all, folks. There's mansplaining, risk assessments without assessing risks, ignoring Long COVID, a fundamental misconstruction of what public health does, and an underlying please, won't somebody think of the shareholders?! Pandemics are inconvenient for business as usual, so there was—and continues to be—a push from those who benefit from business as usual to convince us all that mitigating COVID is impossible. The author tries to convince the reader that returning to the status quo is the right and only thing to do. The other piece referenced near the end of this episode is: Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting by Julio Vincent Gambuto (2020). Transcript HERE (coming soon). CREDITS This is an independent, listener-supported show. If you like what you hear, and you'd like to support production costs for more of Public Health is Dead, visit publichealthisdead.com! | |||