Dr. Katz YouTube Channel:

"Covid Reality Check," Dr. David L. Katz, MD, MPH, with pic of Dr. Katz in hospital emergency room wearing protective mask and shield.

In this ongoing YouTube series, Dr. Katz addresses the most important aspects and questions of the Covid19 pandemic. Dr. Katz’ goal is to provide “brief but comprehensive assessments of where we are with COVID19, of what’s currently making news…and what actually makes sense!”Watch the YouTube video series here.

Coronavirus #TotalHarmMinimization

A Proposed Framework for Risk-based Interdiction of Coronavirus

Everyday Health - Plant-Based Eating During the Pandemic

Dr. Katz Interviews:

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6 Ways to Boost Your Immune System, Jan/Feb 2021

. …Read the article here.

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Science and Sense in Our Covid Response with Dr. David Katz, 12/30/20. …Watch here.

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Dr. Katz delivers keynote address to American College of Lifestyle Medicine attendees, 10/22/20. …Watch the address here.

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Dr. Katz explains the Great Barrington Declaration to Medscape journalist Marcia Frellick, 10/14/20. …Read the article here.

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Dr. Michael Hochman, MD, MPH, talks COVID and ending the shutdown safely with Dr. David Katz, 9/13/20. …Watch the interview here.

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mbg Senior Health Editor Kristine Thomason disusses “Why Aren’t We Talking More About Nutrition Amid COVID-19?” with Dr. Katz, 9/13/20. …Read the article here.

Dr. Katz' first slide at the Covid-19 Science and Policy Symposium Webinar New Zealand 8-17-20

Overview of international response to Covid-19, risk factors, and other Covid topics discussed, 8/17/20. …Watch the webinar here.

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Can a cold help us build immunity against the Coronavisus?, 8/8/20. …Watch the interview here.

"Main Streat Vegan" podcast logo on left, image of Dr. Katz and other podcast guest on right.

Dr. Katz explains the 10-fold increase in Covid cases in the US in this interview with Victoria Moran. Interview begins 28:00 minutes into the podcast, 7/22/20. …Listen to the podcast here.

Paula Marantz Cohen interviews Dr. Katz about the importance of lifestyle as medicine during the current Covid pandemic, 7/16/20. …Watch the YouTube video here.

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Wharton Business Daily host Dan Loney and Dr. David L. Katz discuss the state of the pandemic and how to move forward, 7/13/20. …Listen to the podcast here.

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WHYY The Pulse host Maiken Scott asks Dr. Katz about his vertical interdiction plan. Interview begins at 33:40 minutes into the podcast, 7/10/20. …Listen to the podcast here.

Map of Coronavirus cases in the US as of July 10, 2020

Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers breaks down the latest coronavirus developments with Dr. David L. Katz, 7/10/20 . …Watch the interview here.

Dr. David L. Katz on the left and Mark S. Golub on the right in this virtual interview.

Mark S. Golub discusses today’s nuanced understanding of the Coronavirus with Dr. David Katz and asks why he is optimistic for the immediate future. 7/7/20 …Watch the interview here.

Be Healthistic Episode 26: On the Front Lines of Health with Dr. David Katz

Dr. Drew Sinatra and Dr. Stephen Sinatra interview Dr. Katz in their podcast: “On the Front Lines of Health with Dr. David Katz,” 7/1/20 . …Listen to the podcast here

Mind Body Green Health logo: "mbghealth" with "mbg" in black and "health" in pink

MBG Founder and Co-CEO Jason Wachob interviews Dr. David Katz for the article: “We Need A COVID Reality Check: An MD Shares His 5 Reasons Why,” 6/30/20 . …Read the article here

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Dr. Bradford Cooper interviews Dr. Katz in his podcast: “A Different Perspective on Covid-19,” 6/29/20 . …Listen to the podcast here

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Eating As If the World Depended On It, The Exam Room Podcast with the Weight Loss Champion, Chuck Carroll, 6/25/20. Also available in Apple podcasts.

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Feet, Forks, and Fingers with Dr. David Katz: Why 500K Die Each Year, on Digital Health Entrepreneurship Daily with Laurence Girard, 6/15/20. Also available on Spotify.

Chart showing daily new cases of Coronavirus.

Dr. Katz joins Yahoo Finance’s Heidi Chung to discuss concerns over a second wave of the coronavirus and a timeline on a vaccine, 6/13/20

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Ari Whitten – The Energy BluePrint interviews Dr. David Katz, MD on the Pandemic (Debunking Myths, and a Key Shift in Thinking), 6/13/20. Listen to the podcast here.

United States Amateur Baseball League’s “Clubhouse Report.” with host Mike Kolesar. Dr. Katz wears a baseball cap for this video interview.

Putting COVID-19 in Perspective in a Germ Filled World—Bottom Line Inc’s Sarah Hiner Talks with Dr. David Katz. Watch on YouTube or listen to the podcast, June 1, 2020

Dr David Katz on the left and Sarah Hiner on the right, green background with Coronavirus molecules. Orange band below with "Thriving in a germ-filled world" title.

Putting COVID-19 in Perspective in a Germ Filled World—Bottom Line Inc’s Sarah Hiner Talks with Dr. David Katz. Watch on YouTube or listen to the podcast, June 1, 2020

David L. Katz, MD screenshot in Zoom interview with The Rogue Health Economist

In Episode 22 of The Rogue Health Economist, James Maskell discusses Total Harm Minimization with Dr. David L. Katz, 5/29/20.

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Spencer Bailey and Andrew Zuckerman of At a Distance podcast interview Dr. Katz on Understanding Covid-19 in a Big-Picture Context, May 21, 2020 Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher

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Michael Moynihan Asks Dr. Katz: Is Our Cure Causing Another Disease? on Showtime’s VICE, May 17, 2020

Seana Smith of Yahoo Finance asks Dr. Katz about the new CDC guidelines for reopening. Shown is Dr. Katz inset on right, stock ticker on left, Dr. Katz' title below

Seana Smith, Anchor, Yahoo Finance, Discusses Newly-Released CDC Guidelines for Reopening with Dr. David Katz, May 15, 2020

Dr. Oz interviews Dr. Katz on the effects of Vitamin D on the Coronavirus. Dr. Oz is on the left and Dr. Katz on the right.

Dr. Oz Interviews Dr. Katz on the Effects of Vitamin D on #COVID19, May 7, 2020

Colorful cartoon of many people walking closely together in different directions, all wearing white cloth facemasks.

The Choreography of Contagion Interdiction: Dr. Katz visits the Rich Roll Podcast, May 7, 2020

US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs testimony: Dr. Katz videoconferences in from his library. Beneath his video is a list of the other witnesses.

Roundtable – COVID-19: How New Information Should Drive Policy, May 5, 2020

US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs testimony: Dr. Katz videoconferences in from his library. Beneath his video is a list of the other witnesses.

Roundtable – COVID-19: How New Information Should Drive Policy, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, May 5, 2020

Dr. Katz is interviewed by Bill Maher. Dr. Katz on the left, Bill Maher on the right.

Dr. Katz explains: “If all we do is flatten the curve, you don’t prevent deaths, you just change the dates,” on Real Time with Bill Maher, April 24, 2020.

Clip from the interview: Dr. Katz in his library, book shelf in background, "Dr. David Katz, Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center Founding Director" caption at bottom.

Dr. Katz, board-certified specialist in preventive medicine and public health, joins Mark Levin on Life, Liberty & Levin, April 19, 2020. Watch Part 1 of the interview here.

Boston Public Radio website screenshot with title: "Dr. David Katz on a Targeted Response to Coronavirus Pandemic." Below the title an image of a woman in the refrigerated section of Trader Joe's

Boston Public Radio hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan ask Dr. Katz about his plan for a targeted response to the Coronavirus pandemic, March 30, 2020. Listen to the podcast here.

Dr. Katz, interviewed remotely from his library by Fareed Zakaria GPS, answers the question: Can we limit the economic cost of COVID-19?

Part 1 of Dr. Katz’ interview on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, March 29, 2020: Fareed asks Dr. Katz, “Can we limit the economic cost of COVID-19?” The interview is also available on Apple Podcasts.

Dr. Katz, interviewed remotely from his library by CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, recommends implementing a data-driven approach to public health policy.

Part 2 of Fareed Zakaria GPS interview: CNN Global Economic Analyst Rana Foroohar discusses possible worsening of economic turmoil, and Dr. Katz recommends implementing public health policy that is data driven.

Dr. Katz on the left screen, being interviewed from his home library. Michael Smerconish on the right screen.

Dr. David Katz is asked, Should virus shutdown be modified to prevent other fallout? on CNN’s Smerconish, March 28, 2020.

Dr. David Katz discusses his New York Times op ed, ‘Is our fight against coronavirus worse than the disease?’ on the KTLA 5 Morning News, March 27, 2020.

Dr. Katz is interviewed remotely from his home library

Dr. David Katz on balancing medical risk and economic pain, PBS News Hour, March 24, 2020.

David L Katz MD on CNNs Anderson Cooper 2020-03-23. From left to right: Sanjay Gupta, Anderson Cooper, David L. Katz

Dr. Katz discusses his proposed framework for risk-based interdiction of Coronavirus on Anderson Cooper 360. Click to listen to the episode’s podcast: on Apple podcasts or Player.fm. Dr. Katz appears at 17 minutes into the podcast. Click here to read a transcript of the interview.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of NY on left, outline of David Katz' Coronovirus Risk Interdiction on right.

Governor Cuomo cites Dr. Katz for his plan to manage the Covid pandemic.

Dr. Katz Articles with Information about Coronavirus

Closeup of a man holding a blue paper hospital mask up to his nose and mouth.

I have found almost every aspect of the unfolding “to mask, or not to mask while flying” drama to be in equal parts sad and ominous.  …Read More

Baby kuala bear stretches to help sibling climb up onto a platform

Last week I expressed my doubts that “everybody boost, and boost, and boost some more” in defense against COVID is a valid constituent of “follow the science.” That there is a paucity of science, if any, to justify that approach, and that “follow the science” all too readily devolves into “follow the dogma” are concerns I have seen widely shared by leading medical experts in recent days. …Read More

Colorful cartoon with the backs of a snake, turtle, bird and elephant as they gaze into a store window that says, "One Size Fits All."

As a card-carrying member of the public health community (OK, there is no actual membership card, but you get the idea)- I am loathe to oppose official public health policy pertaining to COVID, or any topic for that matter, for fear of aggravating an established distrust. Be that as it may, I write to share misgivings about the prevailing approach to boosters, which seems composed in equal parts of “more is better” and “one size fits all.” …Read More

Legs and feet of a dark-skinned person in black flip flops seen dangling over a cliff with water below.

Note: For those so inclined, I meander through this same, general content expanse in video commentary here.

I will start by laying my cards on the table. …Read More

Decorated Christmas tree at night in the snow, but instead of a star on top, there's a corona virus molecule.

Friends- I really don’t want to be writing about COVID at Christmas. Traditionally this time of year, I am aiming at inspiration and aspiration, not exasperation. …Read More

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…Does It Make People Sick?

I was well on my weekly way to completing a column, when the disquieting news about the Omicron variant in South Africa broke. …Read More

4 small injection bottles with Covid booster liquid inside them and a booster needle lying in front of them.

Once again, we find ourselves in a novel turn of this labyrinthine pandemic experience. In my home town in Connecticut, things feel substantially, if not quite pristinely-pre-pandemic, normal. One sees occasional masks, presumably worn by those who opted out of vaccination, but they are decisively a small and seemingly shrinking minority. …Read More

3 pairs of rubber boots with mud on them.

We look on. Somehow, it’s all politically correct. If we say that hypertension (elevated blood pressure) is injurious to blood vessels and by extension the cardiovascular system, I trust we can agree this is not insulting to blood vessels. …Read More

Monochromatic image from the back right perspective of a person giving a eulogy. We see their right hand, a pulpit and a small microphone.

I was, I am chagrined to say, Googling myself recently (yes, I think all of the connotations of that are exactly right), to see what the world thought of me in that moment, when I happened upon an opinion piece about opinion pieces, mine among them. …Read More

Blue syringe on a white background

Let’s begin this at the beginning; what, exactly, do boosters ‘boost’? You might blithely answer “immunity,” and you certainly wouldn’t be wrong, but you wouldn’t be very precisely right, either. …Read More

Black & White cartoon of boy holding up newspaper with "Extra!" written in large bold font on the newspaper, as the boy shouts "Extra!"

Which is better for lifelong, cardiovascular health- running or swimming or hiking or biking? In the absence of a decisive answer, we are obviously very well served by doing nothing at all and waiting in a Barcalounger for the relevant research- presumably, an 80-year-long randomized controlled trial– to ensue. Make room on the couch, and please pass the chips. …Read More

On The Nature of Vaccine Reticence: California drivers license with picture of young woman

Vaccine proponent though I am, I can understand and respect vaccine reticence. Why wouldn’t you be wary about anything being injected into you, no matter how compelling the reason for it, no matter how favorable the science? …Read More

Black and brown military men saving young black children from flooding waters, carrying them through the water.

Death by drowning is, nearly always, a matter of tragic circumstance. Death by obesity, in contrast; or poor diet quality; or cardiometabolic disease related to one or both of these; or COVID related in whole or part to all of these; or climate calamity – is mostly a matter of dissent, denial, and abdication. These are deaths by discord. Death by discord prevails. …Read More

Medieval scientist pens his scrolls on and ancient vertical rise type desk.

…Let’s Just Blame The Pathogen

Anyone who has read Guns, Germs, and Steel, or Sapiens, or for that matter seen Hamilton knows that history is distorted in the telling by those who win, or minimally, those who survive. …Read More

Man's left hand, facing right, from his wrist and forearm that shows he's wearing a black suit with a white shirt, about to flip a quarter in a "heads or tails" motion.

This far into our shared pandemic experience, everyone seems to be as dug into their preferred narrative as a tick. Accordingly, we might save ourselves the common unpleasantries of this fraught time by making some concessions here at the start, before I tell you what I think about vaccinating our kids against COVID. …Read More

Closeup of a "Newtons Cradle" pendulum with 5 steel balls hanging, the right one separated to the right of the others, and a white background.

Bret Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist who wrote formerly for the Wall Street Journal and now writes for the New York Times, accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of lying in his most recent column.

I disagree. ….Read More

Black and white image of an early locomotive crashing into an old city building

My positions related to the pandemic are a matter of public record in word and video, from perches humble and rarefied. I respected, from the start, the dangers of the virus, and also the dangers of indiscriminate lockdowns. I favored, and still do, a strategy of total harm minimization– because there always was more than one way for this pandemic to hurt us. ….Read More

Black and white headshot of Mark Twain

For most of the COVID19 pandemic until now, polarized though we were and divided by perspective and policies, we were at least united in our plight. Among the few potential silver linings among the dark clouds in this long parade was the notion that we were one world, facing a dire challenge together. …Read More

Foggy road with one set of headlights approaching the camera

I devoted the latter half of my 30-year clinical career to Integrative Medicine. I took a fair amount of flack for that from the steadfastly conventional among my colleagues. Some of the flack was more or less friendly disagreement; some was rather more pernicious, devolving into ad hominems, aspersions, and at the extreme, attempts at character assassination. If that’s the kind of sport you enjoy, you can peruse most of these at the other end of a Google search. …Read More

Opera scene. Main character sings above the others who are lauding the main character. All characters are dressed in brown/pink peasant garb and wear full-face theatrical masks.

Some years ago, I made what may be the most abject confession a public health professional can make: there is no public. Think about it. You are not the public, and I am not the public- the public isn’t us. It’s not your brother or my sister, either. It’s not our friends or cousins. Now, consider that everyone feels just as you and I do.  …Read More

The Olympics symbol of 5 circles, with one change: a Covid molecule is substituted for the top center circle.

For reasons less than perfectly clear to me, Yahoo Finance keeps inviting me back to talk not about finance, but about the pandemic and public health. Each time we do this, we generally have a shared understanding in advance of the timely topics of interest. For my most recent interview, however, one of the anchors surprised me by asking: should the Olympics be canceled?Read More

Several people at night wearing black hoods and clothing and "Anonymous" masks.

The new CDC guidance regarding mask use has seemingly propagated confusion and consternation in comparable measure. The confusion might have been avoided with better communication and choreography involving other stakeholders – and is thus an unnecessary and unfortunate liability.  …Read More

The author's daughter, crossing the NYC Marathon finish line in 2019

All pandemics end. There is maybe only cold comfort in that while still enduring one, but there is some comfort in it just the same. History is rife with plagues and pandemics, many orders of magnitude worse than this one. Eventually, they all did end. This one will, too. …Read More

A dog with a really long tail lies on a dirt path in the woods.

Our collective, pandemic focus continues to vacillate with the news of the day, but if it has settled anywhere, it has settled of late on the toll of so-called “long COVID,” now known medically as PASC: Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. …Read More

COVID-19 dashboard showing overall number of cases, deaths, and other statistics. Courtesy John Hopkins University.

On March 8, David Leonhardt wrote in the New York Times about the “mystery” of low COVID mortality in many low-income, resource-constrained countries in Africa and Asia. …Read More

Cartoon leprechaun dressed in a green suit with brown belt and green top hat offers with outstretched hands a 4-leaf clover to the viewer.

March, according to the lore we all know, comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Given what we have done to the climate and planet, who knows what it will do, or whether there will be any lions for much longer. But those are topics for another day. …Read More

Antique brass "scale of justice" with two empty brass trays hanging by chains on either side. Black background.

When Mark Bittman and I were working on How to Eat, we spent several full days just talking through every question either of us had ever raised, or received, about all things food. …Read More

Closeup of the United States of America flag waving in the breeze, stars on the left side, on a sky blue background.

The major medical news of this past week, certainly grim and described in many outlets as “staggering,” was the reported decline in average U.S. life expectancy since the onset of the COVID19 pandemic. …Read More

wherever dogma barks, we have a very hard time hearing one another

I recently contributed a quip to my social media channels I hoped might mature into an aphorism or meme: wherever dogma barks, we have a very hard time hearing one another. Whatever this puppy matures into, it represents my conviction on the matter. …Read More

Closeup headshot of a gorilla. looking towards the right of the viewer.

We had indications quite early in the pandemic that diet quality was, if anything, trending down. On the one hand, this is entirely understandable. If ever there was a need for whatever comfort so-called “comfort foods” can provide, this was the year. …Read More

Black and white image of the 4 muskateers raising their swords in unison.

You no doubt recall the rousing motto of The Musketeers: All for One, and One for All! I trust you received that exhortation in the spirit intended, as I always did. It was redolent of loyalty, camaraderie, courage, and honor. It was “band of brothers” (or sisters) stuff that meant no one would be left behind. It was the aspiration of making the ultimate “team,” fulfilled; it was the inspiration to be worthy. …Read More

Two theatre masks - the smiling and the frowning.

Epidemiology is the study of impacts on human populations. There is nothing in the etymology (the study of word origins) that requires exclusive application of the term to health impacts, but that is the custom in practice. That seemingly reflects our tacit consensus: those are the only impacts, encompassing both body and mind, that truly matter. …Read More

4 rows of an electorcardiogram on a pink grid strip of paper.

Ordinarily, diet dominates the news this time of year, and arguably with good reason. There is the turn of the calendar as reliable portent for a bounty of diet and weight-related resolutions. There is the eagerly awaited “best diets” rankings from US News & World Report– where, I note in passing, I have been privileged to serve as one among the judges for roughly the past decade. …Read More

Airplane-view image of a sunrise, red sun rising over the clouds with clouds below it and to the right.

During my most recent guest appearance at Yahoo! Finance to discuss the COVID pandemic and nothing to do with finance – a gig that has been recurring for some time now, for whatever reasons- I was asked if the darkest days of the pandemic yet lie ahead. Actually, the provocation was a bit more extreme. …Read More

"Planet Beat,"​ by Natalia Sandrine Katz - Black and white image of the earth inside of a beating heart

Even now, in the short, dark days of this pandemic extending past the solstice and the turn of the calendar, our viral nemesis is not the greatest threat to years in life and life in years. Even now, with more than 350,000 deaths in the United States attributed to SARS-CoV-2 since this time last year, another assailant steals more of our loved ones from us, this year and every year. …Read More

Snowy landscape on a sunny day with rocky hills on the back left and right, cross country ski tracks through the snow.

As I was composing my most recent COVID reality check video commentary, principally addressing the salient, current concerns- vaccine efficacy and safety, the emergence of new viral strains- an unintended theme insinuated itself to me. I found myself reflecting on our shared experience, even within our current, emphatic divisiveness. …Read More

Cheetah chasing an impala through a grassy plain

Assuming one becomes available to you and/or your loved ones sometime soon, should you, or shouldn’t you, roll up your sleeve for a COVID vaccine? Please indulge me in a thought experiment on our shared way to my conclusion, and recommendation. ….Read More

Silhouette of a person walking along a foggy field, hand scratching his/her head

Many times over the years I’ve been asked to recommend a physician, or more generically- asked what to look for in a physician. Much might be said, but I always prioritize the same thing. In medicine, what I most want to hear a colleague say at least once before I know I can trust her/him- especially with the clinical care of me or someone I love, is: I don’t know. I’m not sure. ….Read More

Image of the sun rising over the clouds from the view of an airplane

Our current news is, of course, dominated by the pandemic, and much of it comes at us numerically. Each day brings headlines about record numbers of cases, and hospital occupancy. Such news is grave and grim, and made all the more so by comparing the quantitative thresholds of the day for cases and casualties alike to precedent, and proclaiming that things are worse now than ever. ….Read More

Black and white image of the parable, "The Blind Men and the Elephant." 6 blind men probe various parts of an elephant for the very first time.

I am just back from my first in-person speaking engagement since the pandemic began refashioning life as we knew it. Metaphorically, at least, it was nice to get briefly above the clouds and see that the sun still shines up there, whatever the overcast travails down here. ….Read More

Sleek new white passenger train

One need not be a specialist in Preventive Medicine to know that the best option for a train wreck is to avoid it in the first place, and keep the train on the tracks. With regard to our national pandemic response, that opportunity has come and gone these many mismanaged months of hardship and loss.  ….Read More

Map of USA with red and blue electoral colors and closeup of surgeon stitching up patient on top of the map.

The one early clarity in our nation’s fraught election has been the excruciating degree of American division. Among the attendant themes in published commentary I’ve read as the long week of resolution has played out was: there is no mandate.  ….Read More

black and white x-ray photograph of human eyes

There is a relatively common, benign tumor of the pituitary gland known as a pituitary adenoma that engenders a unique form of partial blindness, or more accurately, visual field defect. The tumor exerts pressure…  Read More

Diet More Vital than Ever: Diet ID, "Diet is a vital sign" logo encircled in a couple dozen red covid molecules

My first reaction to the COVID pandemic, actually just months but seemingly lifetimes ago, was not about social determinants of health. It was not about total harm minimization, vertical interdiction, or the context of other casualty counts. …Read More

Closeup of a golf ball on a fairway with "Mulligan" and the number 2 on it.

Tracking the pandemic trends- from around the U.S. and throughout the world– as best I can (no one can hope to keep up entirely with the constant deluge of data, drama, dogma, and diatribe)- I incline toward the hope that COVID may be offering us a Mulligan. …Read More

Silhouette of a human with light ray shining through their body juxtaposed on top of a Coronavirus molecule.

Is the pandemic over, or as the kids in the back seat might put it: are we there yet? If in Sweden, the answer is apparently: yes – albeit a very begrudging and tentative yes, encumbered by doubts, caveats, and aspersions from the camp prone to parlaying the valid arguments for lockdown into moral superiority. …Read More

Blackboard filled with mathematical equations.

The combination of initial forays back to the world, work, and notably schools; plus far more testing than we did at the start of the pandemic, produces one inevitable result: surges in case counts everywhere the population wasn’t uniformly exposed already. Is this bad, and if so- how bad? Is it in some way good? Or, is it something in between? …Read More

Doctor tests knee reflex on a patient.

You have no doubt heard the news that as universities reconvene students on campuses around the country, there are flares in COVID case counts. The inclination to return universities to lock down and disperse the students back home in response to this is predictable, and about as nuanced as a knee jerk reflex, give or take the knee. …Read More

Image of a House of (Playing) Cards with the top ones falling over onto the table.

An important new study in the New England Journal of Medicine had a primary objective of determining the nature of durability of antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2. In other words, the primary questions these researchers were asking were: do people show clear evidence of immunity after a COVID19 infection, and does that immunity last for months?Read More

Glass of water, half full...or half empty

Our disparate inclinations famously refract the same view into opposing perceptions: a glass half full, or half empty. The anxious passions engendered by the COVID19 pandemic have greatly amplified that proclivity. Rarely has the gulf between competing versions of optimism and pessimism, or other reciprocal ideologies, yawned so great. …Read More

Red circle with slash through it on top of a Coronavirus molecule. Diet ID logo on bottom right.

Roughly two weeks ago, the American Heart Association told the world that diet should be assessed routinely in clinical encounters, and that new tools were needed to make this possible. The new tools should be quick, elegant, efficient, reliable, accurate, user friendly and economical. They should interface seamlessly with electronic health records, fit without friction into clinical work flow. …Read More

Big red X on white background

We are a polarized society; I have not surprised you by saying so. We are a society with a low tolerance for nuance. We tend to favor: yes/no, right/wrong, good/evil, left/right kind of thinking. We are not the better for it, but it is what it is. …Read More

Black and white image of nurses in surgery garb folding face masks

News reports refer routinely now to “second waves” of the COVID pandemic. Such references, in turn, invoke prior pandemics subject to such ebb and flow. The classic comparison is, of course, to pandemic strains of influenza. …Read More

Dove flying, holding sprig, white background

The United States of America could teach a master class on how NOT to manage a viral pandemic. We are, in fact, offering it now, free of charge. Tune in to us, pretty much any day at pretty much any time, and class is in session. …Read More

Black and White image of a derailed steam locamotive

The United States of America could teach a master class on how NOT to manage a viral pandemic. We are, in fact, offering it now, free of charge. Tune in to us, pretty much any day at pretty much any time, and class is in session. …Read More

Close up of hot dogs and hamburgers on a grill

I hope, my fellow Americans, that in spite of it all, you have a good holiday weekend. This is a hard time to “celebrate” America, both practically and in principle. Practically, the customary expressions of celebration are much obviated during a pandemic surge – by restrictions, regulations, cancellations, and lock-down extensions. …Read More

Ostrich facing left with its head buried in the sand

My colleagues, Maria Chikina and Wes Pegden, were entirely correct in their predictions of what happens when you flatten the epidemic curve without clear plans for a “phase 2” to follow. They were entirely, and obviously right- but I imagine they get no satisfaction from that, as I get none for having recognized that they were right. People in Texas, and Arizona, and Nevada; in Missouri, Alabama and Florida- are paying with their lives. …Read More

Surfer hitting a huge wave

I don’t think it is much of a stretch to say the United States has responded to the challenge of the COVID pandemic by doing nearly everything wrong. Federal guidance has been inconsistent and incoherent, and while waiting for evidence that grown-ups were running the country, sensible people with more regionalized authority lost critical time, and saw vital windows of opportunity slam shut. …Read More

Notecard with "It was the best of times... It was the worst of times." handwritten in cursive on it.

I was privileged yesterday morning to address the virtually assembled multitudes for the 2020 Harvard Lifestyle Medicine conference. Hundreds were gathered from throughout the US, and countries all over the world. As ever, the enthusiasm of this group ran high- albeit expressed on this occasion via texts on Zoom, rather than the smiles, hugs, high-fives, and back-pats of life as we knew it before COVID. …Read More

Busy city street, people seated at outdoor restaurant tables.

For much of the world, the past three months had a clear goal: “lockdown and avoid Covid-19 exposure.” But, in recent weeks, a restless public had already been transitioning haphazardly out of this stage, ranging from demands for continued isolation to massive pool parties and “liberate my state” rallies. With the addition of large gatherings and protests of the past week, confusion and anxiety have even further grown. …Read More

Head shots of 12 people of various ethnicities

There is a trait other than skin pigment that we humans do seem to share all but universally: a rather short attention span. A veritable “moment” before the COVID19 pandemic began rewriting the modern history of public health practice, fixating our attention, and propagating our miscellaneous anxieties, we had declared another epidemic here in the United States a national emergency, after considerable debate and dithering. …Read More

Ficticious angry brown 2-headed fanged tiger-like animal with a split devil-like tail and evil eyes.

One could be forgiven for thinking that however bad it is to be in the middle of one pandemic, it would be worse to be in the middle of two at the same time. In fact, though, we are very much in the middle of two- and at least through one pertinent lens, two pandemics are better than one. …Read More

Three hands holding full glass beer steins and clinking them together to toast.

My fellow Americans- and to be ecumenical about it, my fellow humans- I have two questions for you. Do you have at least half a wit? And, do you have at least half a heart?

If the answers are yes- you have at least half of each- then I contend it’s time to come out of opposing corners and meet in the middle of the COVID infodemic. Enough of the polarizing nonsense that passes for COVID policy debate in this country. Seriously: enough.

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Light switch on gray wall. Switch is "on."

We must, to some extent, be something like flotsam in the currents of culture, debris on the winds of the Zeitgeist; a bit helpless against the buffeting of “now,” in all its particulars.

Perhaps it is the Internet and social media; perhaps the constant immediacy of news cycles. Whatever the reasons intrinsic to “now,” they exert some dominion over our thinking, and seemingly the dictates of now call for: pretty dumb. …Read More

COVID, Hope, and Consternation: screenshot of the "US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs" website page with the announcement and link to the "Roundtable - COVID-19: How New Information Should Drive Policy" hearing video.

I have had abundant opportunity to share my various reflections on the COVID19 crisis. This week, I had the chance to do so directly before the Homeland Security Committee of the United States Senate, and at full length and leisure in a podcast interview with my friend, Rich Roll. What’s left?

Hope, and consternation. …Read More

White Paper: Updated estimates of comorbidities associated with risk for COVID-19 complications based on US data.

Abstract

We updated previous estimates (wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/8/20-0679_article) of adults with any underlying condition increasing risk of complications from COVID-19 using recent US hospitalization data instead of mortality data from China. This substitutes obesity for cancer in the definition and increased the percentage of adults reporting more than 1 condition to 56.0% (95% CI 55.7-56.4). …Read more

Closeup image of a Coronavirus molecule

This past weekend, the World Health Organization stoked the flames of global anxiety by issuing this in the guise of a reality check: we do not know that getting COVID19, and recovering from it, results in immunity.  …Read more

Dr. Katz in full PPE - mask and shield - and other healthcare workers in the background, working on patients

Having just completed three 12-hour shifts as a volunteer physician at a hospital emergency department in the Bronx, I can tell you this: it would be bad not to get a N95 mask, but getting one is no walk in the park, either! You try wearing one for 12 hours straight, and then let’s talk. …Read more

Thomas L. Friedman headshot

Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times: With each passing day it becomes more obvious how unlucky we are that one of the worst crises in American history coincides with Donald Trump’s presidency. To get out of this crisis with the least loss of life and least damage to our economy, we need a president who can steer a science-based, nonpartisan debate through the hellish ethical, economic and environmental trade-offs we have to make. …Read more

Sunset at the pyramids.

We are, no doubt, all comparably eager to consign this blighted interval- of coronavirus contagion, social upheaval, recrimination and fear – to the history books. One day, this will all just be a reference in a tale told to grandchildren, an episode stripped of its visceral impacts and neatly archived. …Read more

Sabertoothed tiger looking towards the left side of the camera and roaring ferociusly.

Believe it or not, now- with the acute threat of COVID19 constraining our activities and propagating our anxieties- there may have never been a better time to address and improve the chronic state of our health, both as a population, and as individuals. Timing, timelines, and the newfound time at our disposal- really are of the essence. …Read more

Image of a melting antique brass alarm clock with old-fashioned bells on top, face glass broken, little hand on the 12, big hand broken and lying on the glass on the table.

My native aptitude, if I may presume to say so, is seeing the whole elephant in the room. I have great respect for the targeted expertise many of my colleagues apply to the trees of their special interest and scrutiny. I am an inveterate forest guy. …Read more

America Responds to Pandemic Coronavirus! Image of Dr. Katz with a facemask and a "Make America Safe Again" baseball cap, in front of the US flag

Much has been made of my early contention that the coronavirus could hurt and kill people more than one way, and that we needed to do our best to interdict them all. I called the approach – that would keep those vulnerable to severe infection and the direct harms of the virus away from it, while allowing those more prone to harm through a degradation of services, goods, livelihoods, supply chains and the social determinants of health back to the world early – vertical interdiction. …Read more

Huge wave of blue water and seafoam crashes on a brown sand and pepple-filled beach

There is no debate, and never was among serious people, about the need to keep those at high risk for severe coronavirus infection and this very nasty germ – SARS-CoV-2- apart. There is only debate about how. Any suggestion to the contrary is misunderstanding, willful or inadvertent, or the replacement of actual ideas with caricatures of them. …Read more

Coronavirus, Casualties, and Context: Do We Dare Discuss Other Numbers? Headshots of about 500 people all adjacent to each other.

Ordinarily, I work to draw attention away from the crude, bland, anonymizing statistics of public health to the faces they veil, the human stories they obscure.

But as the coronavirus pandemic becomes an ever more proximal menace, affecting more people we all know and love- I see a need to go the other way, and highlight the use and misuse, the lessons and liabilities of numbers, in and out of context. …Read more

Man in heavy coat and face mask walks towards the right of the camera, in front of the Basilica in Rome.

Of the slightly more than 30,000 total, global deaths from coronavirus to date, a third of them all have been in Italy. That sad distinction means Italy is the source of our best potential insights about COVID19 and the risk of severe infection and death.

Colleagues reached me this morning with this March 26 compilation of coronavirus data from the Italian health ministry, when the mortality toll was at around 7000: …Read more

Two medical workers in full protective gear, with blue gowns, blue gloves, masks and hair covers, point a swab towards the driver side window of a car to test for Coronavirus.

Only in a world of ideologues and demagogues, of propagandists and Internet trolls, are our options limited to: “send everyone back to the world by some arbitrary date, and never mind the body count” versus “everybody’s grandparents in coronavirus lockdown until many of them die of other causes before ever again hugging their grandchildren.” Indefinite lockdown and indiscriminate largess are two variants on a common theme of heartless, thoughtless public health carnage. Of course there is another way. …Read more

10' x 12' outdoor pavilion with sign: "Griffin Health Co-Vid-19 Testing by Appointment." Eerily, no people are in the scene.

I am just back from being tested for COVID19- very efficiently and professionally, I might add- at Griffin Hospital in Derby, CT. I can’t commend my Griffin colleagues enough for how beautifully they organized. Below are images of the test facility, and the print guidance I received. That said, I won’t have my test results for 3 to 5 days, which is far too long- not just for me, but for the system that needs those data to understand and best address the pattern of the epidemic. …Read more

2 charts showing age of patients vs days days to COVID infection

As referenced in this New York Times column by Thomas L. Friedman.

A risk-stratified, rather than population-wide, approach to COVID19 interdiction is supported by separate computer models from scientists at MIT and at University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon.

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Birdseye view of a man walking down a street wearing a black coat, sneakers, headphones, a protective face mask and hospital gloves looking at his cell phone.

Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times: One of the best ideas I have come across was offered by Dr. David L. Katz, the founding director of Yale University’s C.D.C.-funded Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and an expert in public health and preventive medicine. Katz wrote an Op-Ed in The Times on Friday that caught my eye. He argued that we have three goals right now: saving as many lives as we can, making sure that our medical system does not get overwhelmed — but also making sure that in the process of achieving the first two goals we don’t destroy our economy, and as a result of that, even more lives. …Read more

2 medics load a patient on a gurney into an ambulance.

The New York Times: If we were to focus on the especially vulnerable, there would be resources to keep them at home, provide them with needed services and coronavirus testing, and direct our medical system to their early care. I would favor proactive rather than reactive testing in this group, and early use of the most promising anti-viral drugs. This cannot be done under current policies, as we spread our relatively few test kits across the expanse of a whole population, made all the more anxious because society has shut down. …read more

Female lifeguard in red bathing suit with two life buoys enters ocean beach water

The best available global data continue to paint a largely reassuring picture of coronavirus mortality for most of us and our loved ones. I will return to that, COVID-19, and such comfort as I can render amidst this upheaval, momentarily. First, though, this: every death counts. …read more

Map of the world showing where the highest concentrations of Coronavirus are as of 3/13/20.

COVID-19 is not an even-handed scourge. The risk of severe coronavirus infection, and death, are highly concentrated among those over age 80, to a lesser extent among those over 70, and in particular where baseline health is already poor. To maximize the efficiency of our harm reduction efforts- containment, prevention- they should be targeted accordingly. …read more

White hospital face mask on a table.

No one will know for sure the best responses to the COVID-19 pandemic until after it’s all over, and we look back and second guess ourselves. Hindsight will approximate 20/20; foresight almost never does…my view is that we are under-testing, over-reacting, and somewhat misdirecting our efforts. …read more

Table with Coronavirus statistics

How lethal is the coronavirus, compared to, say, the flu? The only way to know a rate- any rate- is to know both the numerator (i.e., those who suffer the outcome), and the denominator (i.e., the population at risk/exposed). …read more

Coronavirus statistics as of 3/8/20: 107,491 cases and 3,652 deaths

There’s no way to watch the COVID-19 drama unfold and not be concerned/anxious (as if we needed another reason for anxiety these days!). My primary point early on- here – was that we exaggerate the ‘new and shiny’ risk relative to more familiar perils. That remains true of COVID-19 almost no matter how bad it gets. …read more

"Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books by John Milton" book cover on left, image of naked Adam and Eve under a beautiful tree on right.

Well, there is a credible tip about avoiding serpents bearing apples. But otherwise, almost certainly not. Stick with me, and we’ll get back there in a minute. Food- no, not coronavirus– is the leading cause of premature death in America, and for that matter, much of the world. …read more

Asteroid hitting the Earth's atmosphere and bursting into flames

The ultimate questions- will I get this disease, and will it kill me if I do?– can be broken into component parts. The first is, what is my risk of exposure? Right now, unless you are in one of the rarefied populations around the world where the disease is concentrated, the answer is- probably very, very, very low…read more

Astronaut floating in space with earth below

Perhaps our species will decide before it is entirely too late to stop soiling our nest – although that’s far from clear. Perhaps we will decide to stop ravaging and blighting the only planet we will ever call home while it remains hospitable to our kind. …read more

Devil on fire in front of a US flag

Wouldn’t the Devil you loathe and fear appear disguised, deceive, and evoke your sympathy? Wouldn’t the Devil you believe in and shun, attract rather than repulse you? Wouldn’t he assuage you to his side of every argument? Wouldn’t he make you love him, and hate those who called him out for the hate he sowed, and the evil he did? …read more

Shark coming out of water, mouth open showing teeth

I’ve noticed the inevitable during my travels of the past week: a whole lot of anxious conversations about the coronavirus. This is not entirely unfounded- the pandemic is alarming. For those wanting good, up-to-date, expert intelligence about the virus, its spread, the risks, and suitable responses- they are availableread more

Woman walking across a city street, wearing a protective face mask

Poor overall diet quality is the single leading cause of premature death in the United States today, causing an estimated 500,000 or so deaths each year. That is more than ten times worse than a fairly bad strain of influenza, monumentally worse than coronavirus thus far, and happens every year. ….read more

3 juxtaposed images on a blue background: processed meats back left, microscopic view of a virus back right, Humpty Dumpty sitting on the wall front center.

I happen to be a board-certified specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health…it is in my training, if not my DNA, to prevent the preventable calamity. My duty is to perceive vulnerability, peril, and imminent danger to life and limb- and do my utmost about it in advance…read more