Episode · The Ben Avery Era
Emergency Broadcast - Corona Call-Ins
Mar 12, 2020 · 36:34 · 50,000 views · 12 segments, 77 moments indexed
First we call Dr. Steve and then our friend's girlfriend who's a nurse. This is a late night emergency broadcast!
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- 3 min
A caller identified as Dr. Steve explains coronavirus mortality statistics by age group, compares it to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, and notes children appear largely unaffected while comedians debate whether to keep doing shows.
5moments
- Dr. Steve compares the 1918 influenza pandemic to COVID-19, noting that Spanish flu killed 50 million people—1% of the world's population.
- Unlike the 1918 flu, COVID-19 has shown no deaths in children under 10, and the 10-19 age group faces only a 0.2% mortality rate.
- Current data suggests an average mortality rate of about 3%, though it varies dramatically by age—80-year-olds face 15% mortality while young children face near 0%.
- Tim notes that while most people won't get COVID and most who do won't die, the virus will continue to disrupt life for a while.
- Comedians debating whether to do shows despite the pandemic seem mentally ill to Dr. Steve.
influenza pandemic of 1918Spanish flu
- 3 min
Dr. Steve explains that the virus spreads via droplets rather than truly airborne transmission, using an analogy of spitting droplets across an empty football field, and discusses when masks are actually useful versus not.
6moments
- Sick workers will deliver food because they need to make a living, spreading illness like hepatitis outbreaks from infected chefs.
- Tim explains the difference between airborne and droplet transmission using a football field analogy.
- In the analogy, spewed droplets containing billions of viral copies fall to the ground rather than floating indefinitely.
- If infected droplets land on someone's lip, wearing a mask becomes something they'd wish they had done—but the sick person wearing it prevents transmission.
- Masks help the infected person from transmitting to others, which is why hospitals now have patients wear masks when caregivers enter.
- Wearing a mask while asymptomatic isn't idiotic if you can't keep your fingers out of your mouth, since it serves as a reminder not to touch your face.
hepatitis
- 3 min
Dr. Steve discusses how asymptomatic transmission makes this virus harder to contain than smallpox, then lays out basic precautions like not shaking hands, washing hands, and avoiding unnecessary touching.
6moments
- People are contagious even when asymptomatic, which is one of the biggest problems—you can transmit the disease without knowing it.
- Tim explains how smallpox was defeated: no asymptomatic transmission meant they could identify the sick, vaccinate around them, and create a containment moat.
- With asymptomatic transmission, you can't use the smallpox strategy because people spread it before they know they're sick.
- Handshakes are a stupid medieval tradition designed to show you don't have a weapon—we should stop and bow to each other instead.
- Universal precautions: avoid unnecessary touching, wash your hands before eating, use plain water to kill the virus if you can't find Purell.
- Clean public surfaces before touching them, and if everybody follows basic hygiene, we can prevent asymptomatic spread.
smallpoxhand washing and hygiene practices
- 4 min
Dr. Steve explains the science behind a potential spike-protein vaccine, the challenge of manufacturing hundreds of millions of doses, and runs rough math on how many people worldwide could get infected.
8moments
- Timeline for a coronavirus vaccine and the scaling challenge of producing hundreds of millions of doses.
- Scientists sequenced the genetic material for the spike protein, which allows the virus to attach to human cells and inject genetic material.
- Bacteria can now be engineered to produce the spike protein harmlessly, creating a potential vaccine vector.
- Manufacturing 350 million vaccine doses for the U.S. population is not trivial; vaccinating the world requires 7 billion vials.
- Initial vaccination strategy would prioritize vulnerable populations and people in contact with infected individuals rather than vaccinating everyone immediately.
- Estimates of 70 to 150 million infected people, compared to the 1918 influenza pandemic affecting 10 percent of the global population.
- Ten percent of seven billion people equals 700 million infected in a worst-case pandemic scenario.
- If all seven billion people contracted coronavirus with a three percent mortality rate, it would overwhelm global healthcare systems and produce deaths exceeding mortality from the disease itself.
- 5 min
Discussion of whether U.S. hospitals can handle a surge, experimental antivirals like remdesivir, and how Philadelphia's 1918 pandemic parade backfired compared to cities that restricted travel; Tim jokes about his own allergies and upcoming Tampa trip.
10moments
- US healthcare system capacity concerns during the pandemic and hospital bed shortages.
- Remdesivir antiviral drug in Phase three trials as a potential treatment to free up hospital beds.
- Tim argues the government is doing what it can; travel restrictions buy time while waiting for vaccines or treatments.
- Philadelphia's 1918 parade during the influenza pandemic caused exponential transmission, unlike cities that restricted travel.
- Tim uncertain whether he should fly to Tampa on Saturday; more worried about getting back than getting there.
- Airlines may ground air travel if person-to-person transmission in airplanes becomes documented.
- COVID-19 causes viral pneumonia that damages lungs; most people experience common cold symptoms.
- Three coronavirus versions cause serious illness: SARS, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2; prior vaccine research provides a head start.
- Remdesivir was originally tested against SARS and MERS, giving researchers existing data on the drug family.
- Testing strategy avoids unnecessary tests on low-risk people to prevent false positives and preserve test supply.
- 4 min
Dr. Steve details fever, cough, and pneumonia symptoms, explains supportive ventilator treatment, and Tim presses him on whether comedy shows and travel are reckless right now given cancellations across the medical field.
7moments
- Fever, cough, and shortness of breath are the main symptoms, with infection moving from upper to lower respiratory tract causing pneumonia.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs might actually accelerate the virus, so treatment is supportive—ventilators until the body clears it on its own.
- Tim worries the real disruption is to travel, jobs, and large gatherings, though some people can work from home.
- Medical conferences and his wife's business meeting have both been canceled.
- If immunity holds after infection, people won't get it twice, though a universal flu vaccine could end influenza entirely within five years.
- At 35, the doctor's mortality risk is 0.2 percent, but Tim still thinks doing comedy shows right now seems crazy and stupid.
- Air travel and large gatherings seem unnecessary; Tim suggests everyone should just chill for two months.
- 4 min
They discuss whether recovering gives immunity, joke about which countries and cheap-cruise passengers 'deserve' a plague more, touch on pregnancy risk and Tom Hanks' diagnosis, before wrapping up the call.
10moments
- Tim wonders if he's being selfish taking a vacation to Tampa during the pandemic.
- Dr. Steve points out that 30,000 people died of influenza this year with no national panic.
- The virus didn't shut down Italy the way flu never has, suggesting people are overreacting to an unknown bug.
- Americans think the pandemic is fake because they don't want to believe in things they can't see, deserving plague more than other countries.
- Tim brings it back to Spirit Airlines and $99 flights as emblematic of American excess.
- Dr. Steve doesn't think summer weather will help—COVID is already spreading in Australia during their warm season.
- Pregnant women face the same risk as everyone else; it's not like Zika.
- Tim notes Tom Hanks just got it and asks if he'll be okay.
- Dr. Steve recovers from strep throat using clindamycin and mucinex while canceling his New York shows.
- Tim signs off and heads to Tampa for spring break with his kids while Dr. Steve questions whether he's even a real doctor.
- 2 min
Recapping Dr. Steve's Track Record and Telling Weed Smokers to Quit
#Tim recalls Dr. Steve previously calling in a z-pack prescription during a bad cold at South by Southwest, then riffs that people should quit smoking weed and cigarettes to protect their lungs during the outbreak.
4moments
- Tim recounts calling Dr. Steve during South by Southwest when he had bronchitis and needed a Z-pack prescription.
- Pharmacy refused to fill the prescription because Tim's ID was expired, despite having a doctor's approval.
- Tim notes everyone reports the same statistics about low death rates, but nobody really knows their actual risk until they get sick.
- Tim tells weed smokers to quit, calling them losers and saying they should be put back in jail instead of legalizing it.
- 4 min
A nurse caller named Vanessa describes chaotic 'mob mentality' at her hospital, EMS workers showing up in full protective gear, and supplies being rationed and stolen by people who don't need them.
10moments
- Vanessa works as a general medicine inpatient nurse, not in the ER.
- Hospitals see a surge of people convinced they have coronavirus, identifiable by how EMS dresses them in full protective gear.
- The panic spreads through mob mentality—staff start freaking out after seeing others freak out, perpetuating anxiety.
- No confirmed cases yet at her hospital, but patients present with cough, body aches, and general sickness indistinguishable from flu.
- The coronavirus test involves a nasal swab as part of a full respiratory panel.
- Vanessa is less paranoid than colleagues, though staff are on high alert about a potential case currently under evaluation.
- Suspected coronavirus patients are isolated in private rooms and require all staff to wear masks, face shields, and follow strict protocols.
- Hospital privacy rules prevent nurses from knowing which patients are suspected cases unless they're directly assigned to care for them.
- Supplies are already being rationed despite the surge still ramping up.
- Staff from other units steal masks and supplies they don't need, leaving nurses working in close contact with coughing patients without adequate protection.
- 2 min
Turning Vanessa's Quote Into a Fake Viral Headline
#Tim jokes about turning Vanessa's comments into a sensational YouTube headline about NYC running out of supplies, then pivots into a riff about old people, social security, and mocking dietary habits blamed for the virus's origin.
5moments
- Tim explains how a nurse's tweet about supply shortages gets misinterpreted because people hoard items they don't actually need.
- Coronavirus is a mild illness for most healthy people and clears up in a week with over-the-counter medication.
- Tim observes that older people are the ones dying, then jokes that they're already running on social security anyway.
- Tim asks whether people in Asia should just stop eating bats and exotic animals and switch to regular food like turkey sandwiches.
- These viruses keep coming out of Asia because people there will eat literally anything.
COVID-19Asia
- 2 min
Vanessa mentions a friend from New Rochelle possibly exposed, Tim speculates she's downplaying the severity under duress, and the call wraps with a plug to subscribe on YouTube.
4moments
- Running out of supplies in New York City, heard it here first on the Jill Dillon show.
- Vanessa's friend from New Rochelle won't come to her house because she's probably sick.
- Tim suspects Vanessa is downplaying the crisis because she's got a gun to her head.
- Every drug addict in New York City is running in thinking they got Corona.
New York CityNew Rochelle
- 1 min
Tim sarcastically frames the two callers as the nation's top pandemic experts delivering uncensored real-time updates, then closes by urging listeners to subscribe and join the Patreon as comedy shows get cancelled.
2moments
- Tim introduces his "top experts in the country" handling the pandemic: the doctor from Opie and Anthony and his friend's girlfriend.
- Plugs subscription and Patreon as the way to get uncensored, unrestricted information.