Prognosis: Misconception

Before COVID-19 started spreading around the U.S., the country was already attempting to deal with another health crisis: opioid dependency. Although opioid-treatment programs are considered essential public facilities and are allowed to stay open during statewide stay-at-home orders, experts are worried the coronavirus could exacerbate the opioid epidemic, possibly leading to more overdoses.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s a sliver of hope for people very ill with Covid-19. It’s a bold new treatment that involves taking the blood plasma of people who have recovered from the disease, and injecting it into people who are very sick. The secret is in the antibodies: a protein that is produced when someone’s immune system has fought the virus. But using antibodies to treat the sick is more complicated than just transferring them from one person to another. Jason Gale reports on what researchers are doing to sift through the many antibodies out there, and find the right ones to help people recover from being infected.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As data about the health outcomes of the new coronavirus come in, it's clear that black people are dying at disproportionate rates to their percentage of the population. But a new report shows it’s not just black Americans’ health that will suffer. The virus will likely have a devastating effect on their jobs and future earnings. Donald Moore talked to researchers about the economic and physical traps the virus is setting for the demographic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Losing the ability to smell is one of the strangest clues that someone may have COVID-19. Experts around the world are still trying to understand why this symptom pops up, and what it means for patients. Some are calling on people who have lost their sense of smell to get tested and isolate themselves, even if they have no other symptoms. Jason Gale reports that the symptom could be an early warning sign--and screening for it could help contain the virus.6See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two of the worlds biggest companies, Apple and Amazon, rely on a supply chain that is spread all across the world, in many countries that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus. The tech giants employ hundreds of thousands of people so their fate, in many ways, is the fate of the global economy. Brad Stone, Bloomberg's head of global technology coverage, reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Historically, the U.S. Centers for Disease control and Prevention has been the agency in charge of predicting, and containing outbreaks of disease. But as Covid 19 ravaged the country, the agency took a backseat to the White House. Michelle Fay Cortez and John Tozzi discuss how the agency has handled the pandemic response, its early missteps, and how its role is likely to change in the future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On a special episode of Prognosis Daily, we’re taking a close look at how the novel coronavirus lived before it entered humans and who it lived in. Bats. They’re almost certainly the source of this pandemic, but these flying mammals may also hold the clues to stopping the next one. Bloomberg senior editor Jason Gale explores how research into bats led to the discovery of what could be the precursor of the novel coronavirus. This vital research is also laying the groundwork for potential treatments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists are desperate for a way to detect the novel coronavirus in communities as early as possible. So far, those efforts have focused on widespread testing of people. But a group of Dutch researchers may have discovered a way to tell where the virus is spreading, right beneath their feet. Jason Gale looks at the people hunting for early-warning signs in sewage.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The effects of the outbreak are putting unprecedented stress on thousands of people. But the difficulty of obtaining mental health services while under lockdown threatens to break a treatment network that was already strained to the breaking point. Cynthia Koons explains how companies are trying to meet that demand and how the crisis may change the way we receive mental health care.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently changed their guidelines on whether healthy people should wear masks, suggesting that people cover their faces to help slow transmission of the novel coronavirus.The evolving view on face masks is just one more example of how quickly our understanding of the virus is changing. It also makes it hard for the public to know what information to take seriously. James Paton reports on what masks really do, why some still warn against their use, and how many people might be wearing them wrong.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Covid 19 crippling much of the world, there’s intense uncertainty about what’s next. In the United States, it’s hard to envision when the economy, and our lives, will get back to normal. But it turns out there is a plan to beat the virus, and to get the country back to work. The question is whether the government will follow it. Health reporter Anna Edney spoke to Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and current informal adviser to the White House, about what happens in the coming months, and years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Italy has been among the hardest hit countries by coronavirus. An outbreak epicenter, Italy’s cases are at nearly 120,000 with over 14,000 deaths. It’s sobering evidence of how vicious the virus can be. And yet, just to the north, Germany seemed like it was escaping the worst of the outbreak by enacting widespread testing and taking the virus seriously earlier. With fewer cases and, until recently, a mortality rate that hovered under 1%, Germany appeared to be a model of how to successfully navigate the crisis. But now there’s some doubt about whether Germany is really a Covid-19 success story. Naomi Kresge reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Under the $2 Trillion economic stimulus bill passed last week, the US government will make direct payments to Americans who are suffering because of the coronavirus pandemic. Giving everybody money, with no strings attached, has an obvious benefit in an economic emergency. But some economists have always advocated for handing out money to nearly everyone, in good times and bad. Joe Weisenthal explains. Plus the day's Covid-19 headlines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. But experts have said it could take a year to 18 months for one to hit the market. The process for testing and approving a vaccine is long and complicated. That can be frustrating when the coronavirus is taking more and more lives every day. But cutting corners to push a vaccine through faster can lead to devastating consequences. We know that, because it’s happened before.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Around the country and the world, more and more people are locked down in their homes, but people still need to see the doctor. That has made telehealth companies -- businesses that let doctors treat patients remotely -- the new stars of the Covid-19 economy. And companies that until now have mainly offered prescriptions for birth control or hair loss pills are pivoting to provide services related to the pandemic. Plus: Today's headlines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Covid-19 acts in a way that scientists are still trying to figure out. In some people who are infected, symptoms are mild -- like a common cold. Some are completely fine. In others, the infection can be fatal, stopping the lungs from functioning and causing the body to shut down. So why are symptoms so mild in some people and deadly in others? It turns out there's a tipping point -- a moment where the virus moves from one part of the body to another -- that takes the infection from manageable to fatal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A little known geneticist in Seattle has become something of a CSI detective, unraveling the origins of Covid 19 in the U S. Could his research hold secrets to a better understanding of the disease? Some policymakers seem to think so. Plus: today's headlines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can we make sense of the scary reality we are all now living in? Where do pandemics come from? And why are they occurring more frequently? On this special episode, Bloomberg’s Jason Gale talks to some of the world’s most experienced pandemic experts to get their insights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the series premiere of the Prognosis daily podcast, host Laura Carlson gives the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak. Health officials around the world have been urging countries to conduct widespread testing. Jason Gale explores why some nations have been slow to respond.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Harnessing Bloomberg's reporting from every continent, Bloomberg's daily Prognosis podcast brings the news, data and analysis you need for living in the time of Covid-19. In around ten minutes, we will explain the latest developments in health and science, the impact on individuals, industries and governments and the adaptions they are making in the face of the global pandemic. Come back every weekday afternoon for a short dose of the best information about the novel coronavirus from more than 120 bureaus around the world. First episode drops Thursday, March 26.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Pushkin Industries, introducing Deep Background with Noah Feldman. Every story has a backstory, even in today's 24-hour news cycle. In Deep Background, Harvard Law School professor and Bloomberg Opinions columnist Noah Feldman will bring together a cross-section of expert guests to explore the historical, scientific, legal, and cultural context that help us understand what's really going on behind the biggest stories in the news.This week, Richard Lazarus, a law professor at Harvard and a leading Supreme Court advocate, discusses where public health stops and our individual liberties begin. Plus, what does it mean that the Supreme Court has postponed oral arguments?Learn more and subscribe to Deep Background on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We continue our look back at some of our favorite episodes from the podcast. Joel Grimwood was almost certainly going to die. The pump that kept his failing heart going had become infected, and surgery after surgery had scraped away parts of his chest. Drugs didn’t work because the bacteria were in a slime, impenetrable to antibiotics. What saved his life was a little-known treatment called phage therapy. Popular in the former Soviet Union, they’ve fallen out of favor in the West. The viruses are the natural predator of bacteria, and a small number of scientists are trying to turn them against the threat.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We continue our look back at some of our favorite episodes from the podcast. Among those most vulnerable to superbug infections are cancer chemotherapy patients. In India, many are dying from bacteria poisoning their blood that even the most potent antibiotics available can't stop. This calamitous scenario portends a global crisis as superbugs spread through international travel and trade.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We continue our look back at some of our favorite episodes from the podcast. Do exercise-tracking apps and gadgets like the Fitbit actually make us healthier? Or do they just create a high-tech, data-centric illusion of control over our weight, sleep and general well-being? Bloomberg's Naomi Kresge loaded up some popular apps to find the answer –- and to see if she could get a better night’s sleep than her husband.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're revisiting some of our favorite episodes, starting with our very first. More than a million Americans suffer from Type 1 diabetes. The disease occurs when the pancreas mysteriously stops producing insulin, the hormone that converts food into energy. Modern medicine has been able to recreate insulin, but not the finely calibrated delivery mechanism of the pancreas. Now a group of like-minded do-it-yourselfers have gotten together on the internet and—working outside the purview of organized medicine—have figured out how to link a pump, glucose monitor and smartphone to simulate a functioning pancreas. The results have been spectacularly successful.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The average cost of having a baby in the United States is $11,000 for people on private health insurance. But the price tag can vary by tens of thousands of dollars, depending on what hospital you go to and what doctor you see. And high-price medical care isn’t necessarily better: In the U.S., regardless of how much they or their insurance company pays, women experience unexpected problems related to pregnancy and childbirth at alarming rates.The problem, of course, isn’t limited to maternity costs. Across the health-care system, wide differences in price and quality for the same procedures have led many economists and policymakers to conclude that the marketplace for medical care is broken. This week on Prognosis, we look at one health plan’s attempt to make it work better. It’s pushing hospitals to improve maternity care while keeping costs in check. These efforts bring to light a lot about what’s wrong with American health care, and one ambitious attempt to fix it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In America, poverty is linked to shorter lifespans. The wealthiest 1% of Americans live more than a decade longer than the poorest 1%, and the longevity gap has expanded in recent years. The medical community is increasingly examining the role that poverty and difficult social circumstances play in illness. Some people are asking whether the health care system could do more to address the things that influence people’s health beyond their medical care.This week on Prognosis, we look at one startup that’s trying to redesign care for some of the most vulnerable patients, taking into account the complex realities of their lives. The company is trying to improve care for people and communities the medical system often fails – and it believes that fixing those failures will not only make people healthier, it will also save money.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Independent doctors are a vanishing breed. Hospitals have spent decades scooping up physician groups to build large, powerful health-care systems. The rationale was to increase efficiency and save money but often the opposite occurred. In fact, lots of evidence shows that consolidation in health care has driven prices higher. And both physicians and patients increasingly feel that big health systems and insurance companies have too much sway over what happens in the exam room. A few years ago, a group of doctors in Charlotte, North Carolina, decided they’d had enough. They split from the big hospital system that owned their practice to strike out on their own. They’re betting that they can be more competitive, and serve their patients better, independent of their former owners. In this episode of Prognosis, we tell the story of how one doctors’ group bucked the trend toward more concentrated health-care markets, and what it might mean for the future of the U.S. health-care system.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2020, Americans will spend almost $4 trillion on health care. Yet for all that spending, Americans overall tend to be less healthy and die younger than citizens of other wealthy nations. The cost of health care has become so burdensome that people all across the United States are forced to make difficult choices every day: forgo urgently needed medicines or treatment for serious injuries out of fear the cost, even with insurance, could bankrupt them. How did the U.S. health-care system get this way? And what are some people trying to do to change it? This season’s Prognosis explores these questions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Americans are paying more and getting less for their health care than ever before. On the new season of Prognosis, reporter John Tozzi explores what went wrong. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomberg's Travel Genius podcast is back! After clocking another hundred-thousand miles in the sky, hosts Nikki Ekstein and Mark Ellwood have a whole new series of flight hacking, restaurant sleuthing, and hotel booking tips to inspire your own getaways—along with a who's who roster of itinerant pros ready to spill their own travel secrets. From a special episode on Disney to a master class on packing, we'll go high, low, east, west, and everywhere in between. The new season starts Nov. 6.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephanie Flanders, head of Bloomberg Economics, returns to bring you another season of on-the-ground insight into the forces driving global growth and jobs today. From the cosmetics maker in California grappling with Donald Trump's tariff war, to the coffee vendor in Argentina burdened by the nation's never-ending crises, Bloomberg's 130-plus economic reporters and economists around the world head into the field to tell these stories. Stephanomics will also look hard at the solutions, in the lead-up to Bloomberg’s second New Economy Forum in Beijing, where a select group of business leaders, politicians and thinkers will gather to chart a better course on trade, global governance, climate and more. Stephanomics will help lead the way for those debates not just with Bloomberg journalists but also discussion and analysis from world-renowned experts into the forces that are moving markets and reshaping the world. The new season of Stephanomics launches Oct. 3.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many antibiotic pills we’ve relied on for decades to treat infections no longer work. It’s a global crisis. Hospitals are increasingly stumped. But where do resistant bugs come from? In our final episode of this season’s Prognosis, Bloomberg Senior Editor Jason Gale takes us to Copenhagen, Denmark, where one scientist searches for clues in airplane waste from all over the globe. He found killer superbugs thriving in healthy people from countries far and wide. Even in countries where antibiotic use has been strictly controlled, resistant bacteria have made their way to people via the food chain. Yet it’s not too late to turn back See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's no secret that dangerous superbugs are showing up more and more in hospitals around the world. But where do they come from? How do they get into hospitals in the first place? In this episode of Prognosis, Bloomberg's Jason Gale unravels the mystery, taking us on a detective's search for the world's most deadly superbugs as they stealthily sneak into hospitals. And how one hospital has come up with a simple yet virtually foolproof safeguard against spreading those bugs once inside the building. The implications are huge for how hospitals around the world fight back against the spread of killer germs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joel Grimwood was almost certainly going to die. The pump that kept his failing heart going had become infected, and surgery after surgery had scraped away parts of his chest. Drugs didn’t work because the bacteria were in a slime, impenetrable to antibiotics. What saved his life was a little-known treatment called phage therapy. Popular in the former Soviet Union, they’ve fallen out of favor in the West. The viruses are the natural predator of bacteria, and a small number of scientists are trying to turn them against the threat.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Among those most vulnerable to superbug infections are cancer chemotherapy patients. In India, many are dying from bacteria poisoning their blood that even the most potent antibiotics available can't stop. This calamitous scenario portends a global crisis as superbugs spread through international travel and trade.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this new season of Prognosis, we look at the spread of infections that are resistant to antimicrobial medicines. You're probably more likely to have heard of these as superbugs. Their rise has been described as a silent tsunami of catastrophic proportions. We travel to countries on the frontline of the crisis, and explore how hospitals and doctors around the world are fighting back. Prognosis’ new season launches Sept. 5.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chinese consumers, just like Westerners, are lining up for DNA tests. But unlike their American and European counterparts, the Chinese appear to have far fewer qualms about privacy and sharing their data. And what they’re expecting to glean from their genetic information goes far beyond family trees or hints of future disease. From assessing the talents of hours-old infants to making career and life decisions based on DNA tests, the Chinese have fully embraced the genetics boom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do exercise-tracking apps and gadgets like the Fitbit actually make us healthier? Or do they just create a high-tech, data-centric illusion of control over our weight, sleep and general well-being? Bloomberg's Naomi Kresge loaded up some popular apps to find the answer –- and to see if she could get a better night’s sleep than her husband.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By now most of us understand the privacy consequences of all the data we handed over to social media and Internet companies. But what happens to the huge amount of health information we generate from health apps, DNA kits, doctors' visits, blood tests and fitness trackers? Some of it's carefully protected by law. Other data -- including intimate details about our lives -- can be sold to brokers who trade it like a commodity. How worried should we be?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On our latest episode of Prognosis, reporter Kristen V. Brown sells her DNA data to the highest bidder. Health data has turned into big business, but Brown quickly realized she wasn’t about to get rich. In exchange for an Amazon gift card or a few shares of marginal value, companies promise to use your data in the quest for better healthcare. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Prognosis, reporter Michelle Fay Cortez probes one of the more disturbing unintended consequences of the genetic testing revolution. DNA tests have become so prevalent that more and more people are discovering they have rare and potentially dangerous or even lethal genetic mutations. But how accurate are those findings? And what should people and their doctors do about them? Michelle tells the story of one family faced with the decision whether to proceed with life-altering surgeries to avoid facing a cancer diagnoses one day in the future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A century-old quest for family records to unite relatives in heaven has transformed the church into a global leader in genealogy technology. That's paved the way for the success of companies like 23andMe who sell the promise of helping us figure out who are and where we come from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this new show from Bloomberg, hosts Mike Regan and Sarah Ponczek speak with expert guests each week about the main themes influencing global markets. They explore everything from stocks to bonds to currencies and commodities, and how each asset class affects trading in the others. Whether you’re a financial professional or just a curious retirement saver, What Goes Up keeps you apprised of the latest buzz on Wall Street and what the wildest movements in markets will mean for your investments. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Prognosis, we'll meet the Bloody Health collective – a group of feminist coders in Berlin who are looking for a safer way to track their periods. Targeted advertising, third-party data sharing and tracking make most menstruation apps just as problematic as they are popular, privacy activists argue. For the women of Bloody Health, the sure way to keep control is to build their own open-source app.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pay Check is back for a second season! For the next six weeks, we’re going to dig into the number one reason women still make less money than men: Motherhood. Women start their careers earning just about the same as men do, but once they have their first kid, that pay gap grows to a chasm. This season, we’ll show you how this “motherhood penalty” plays out for real women, in real life and how it affects the global economy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the latest edition of Prognosis, we'll tell you how a simple DNA genealogy test upended the life of a Washington state sheep farmer. Instead of finding out more about the Swedish and Jewish roots she'd heard about, she found that she had an entire family she didn't know about, and a connection to a man with a mysterious and controversial past. These types of genetic surprises are getting more common, and redefining who we call family.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prognosis is back for a second season. Over the next few weeks, we're acknowledging how science and technology are making it easier for us to know pretty much everything there is to know about ourselves: Where we come from. The best time to conceive. What might kill us. And what happens when we start getting all that information, and handing it over to others.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pay Check is collecting stories for our upcoming season, and we want to hear from you! Did having a kid change your career trajectory or the way you work? If you have anything you want to share, call and leave us a voicemail at (212) 617-0166. Stay tuned for more very soon!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some patients can't wait for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs. They're pushing the drug industry to make the cures they and their loved ones need. But what's good for patients is also good for pharma's profits, creating a web of murky incentives that makes the issue of high drug costs all the more difficult to parse. In episode 8, Bloomberg's Rebecca Spalding talks to these professional patients about their relationships to the big companies whose therapies they need.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.