This is Public Health Media Club—a chatty and critical exchange about public health in the media!
Daniella (of "Public Health is Dead") & MJ (of "Everything is Public Health") do a crossover episode about COVID, people still masking, and "The Science"! First up, from the Atlantic: The Evermaskers (archived link).

*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.
Of course, there's a lot to talk about since Everything is Public Health and Public Health is Dead.

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!

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!

(00:00) Introduction
(02:50) Meet Briana, Pierre, and Ji-Youn
(06:00) Is "COVID anxiety" a real thing?
(10:49) What does years of public health abandonment do to us collectively?
(14:00) Collective care and what we owe each other
(23:33) Relationship breakdowns
(39:31) How to have COVID conversations/set your own boundaries
(53:10) Messages to other therapists
(59:58) SPEAK ON IT, PIERRE!! (if you listen to nothing else, listen to this!)

Find Pierre at Queering Psychology, Briana at her website, and Ji-Youn at their website.

CREDITS
Public Health is Dead is created, hosted, written and produced by Daniella Barreto
Outro music for this episode by Alexandria Maillot

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!

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.

Hear how Dr. Filiatrault and her team put the precautionary principle into practice against SARS in 2003, what public health can still learn from this story for the events of today, and what we need from good public health leaders heading into a future where more pandemics threaten us all.

TRANSCRIPT HERE

(04:26) Chapter 1: Vancouver - Dr. Filiatrault's story
(18:34) Chapter 2: Toronto - A city unprepared
(35:58) Chapter 3: What makes a good public health response?
(50:01) Chapter 4: Safety at work
(53:05) Chapter 5: What's in a good public health leader?

*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​
SARS Commission Final Report

CREDITS
Public Health is Dead is created, hosted, produced, written and edited by Daniella Barreto.
Music, sound design and mixing by Alexandria Maillot.
Fact checking and production support from Anika S.
Editing support from Kevin Ball, Anika S. and Lauren M.

*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.**\

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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 about it because I am just a voice in your headphones. (Service providers might also benefit from the contents of this show.)

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!