Podcast: Dr. Osterholm from U of M and COVID-19

Forum for the discussion of astronomy books, magazines, movies, documentaries, web videos, astronomy apps, etc.

Moderator: Lilah

Post Reply
User avatar
Lilah
Posts: 1432
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 4:09 pm
Real Name: Lilah Blinkman

Podcast: Dr. Osterholm from U of M and COVID-19

Post by Lilah »

Hi everyone,

COVID-19 has been a life changing experience for everyone. There is a lot of information (and misinformation) out there. While I read from many different sources, I have found that Dr. Michael Osterholm provides phenomenal information that is fair and balanced. He isn't of the mindset, "economy vs public health". Both are very important to him and he stresses science and scientific studies as an emphasis to getting through this pandemic. He also stresses the importance of kindness a LOT and is not afraid to say, "I don't know" or "we don't know what we don't know". I feel Dr. Osterholm is a real gift, and while he is a well known epidemiologist all over the country (and the world actually), we are very fortunate to have him here in Minnesota.

I recently participated in a 3 hour live webinar that he was apart of and it was really great! If anyone would like a link to that, let me know. It was hosted by Tom Brokaw and featured other speakers (public health experts as well as economists).

The point of this post is to share his weekly podcast, "Osterholm Update: COVID-19". It has been going on for the past few months, so if you don't have a lot of time I recommend starting with episode 6. If that is also too much, at the very lease start with the episode, "Special Episode: Masks and Science" and listen to the episodes thereafter (11 and 12). Each episode is 40 to 55 minutes long, but so worth it!

I think it is really important for people to educate themselves, but I also find a lot of what he says relevant to the ongoing discussions regarding reopening the observatories, particularly ELO, to the public. You will likely learn something new that you have not heard in the more widely known media outlets.

Here is the link to the podcasts: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars

If you are interested, CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ also has great articles. CIDRAP is where I found the podcast.

Dr. Osterholm and his team also have something called, "COVID-19: The CIDRAP Viewpoint". It is very informative if you have time to do the reading. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cov ... -viewpoint

Dr. Osterholm and CIDRAP in general have been such great resources that I actually recently became a monthly donor.

I hope you all find some helpful information in the podcast and most importantly, I hope you all are healthy and well. Please remember it's important to physically distance as much as possible, but we don't have to "socially" distance. If anything we need to be in touch with each other more than ever, as many of us may feel quite isolated during this pandemic. I miss seeing many of your faces at meetings, events, and star parties.

Take care.
Make it so,

Lilah Blinkman
MAS Outreach Coordinator
ELO Program Coordinator
Post Reply