June 20, 2023 • 29 mins
Doctor Wesley Stubblefield with the Alabama Department of Public Health talks about the roll they continue to play in informing, protesting and educating the public about health emergencies like the Corona virus and also what needs to be done going forward to combat future outbreaks. Then in light of the recent Juneteenth observance, we talk with Kelly Navies museum specialist of oral history at the Smithsonian museum of African American history. She talks about the historical and cultural significance of Juneteenth.
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(00:03):
This is Viewpoint Alabama, a publicservice of the Alabama Radio Network where we
talk about the people, the places, and the things making news in our
state. I'm your host, JohnMounts, and today we're joined by one
of the people that we got toknow so very well during the pandemic from
the Alabama Department of Public Health.Here's doctor Wesley Stopplefield. Doctor Stopplefield,
welcome to the show. Thank youfor having me. I'm delighted to have
(00:26):
you on. And We've got somegood news for everyone who doesn't already know
it, but I think pretty mucheveryone does it. The pandemic is it's
officially it's ending, right, Soin certain ways yes and anothers know.
The federal government has declared that thepandemic is no longer a public health emergency,
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meaning that the pandemic is no longerdisrupting life as it was before.
And there are many factors that playinto this, primarily that most people,
if not all people, have eitherhad a vaccine or the infection treatments and
vaccines are widespread, and the amountof illness that this is causing has decreased
over time. So we are definitelymoving into a new phase of the pandemic
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from this point forward. I've heardthe word endemic used in other words,
it's pretty much it's out there,it's everywhere. But it's because it's everywhere,
people have started to adapt, that'sright. Coronaviruses like COVID nineteen are
endemic viruses in our population. Sowe have others that are not COVID nineteen
that continue to circulate on a regularbasis, and COVID nineteen is suspected and
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expected to become one of those virusesthat just will continue to affect our lives
over time. And that being thecase, we have to adapt. Just
like as we did during the pandemic, we have to adapt to it being
endemic because we can't just go onabout our lives as we were before.
Right, there are still things thatwe need to keep in mind, that's
(02:00):
right. The most important thing thatwe need to think about as a population
is who is at highest risk forsevere disease. And this goes for many
respiratory viruses, not just COVID nineteen, but we also think about RSV or
respiratory since issiovirus or influenza virus.Some people would get very, very sick,
and those risk factors are pretty consistentacross groups, meaning those of older
(02:23):
age, those that have underlying weakenedimmune systems, but maybe the very young
and others with chronic medical conditions shouldcontinue to take this seriously because they may
get sick, they may end upin the hospital, and we have ways
of keeping people out of the hospitalthat include both vaccines and treatments. I
was going to ask about that becausethe treatments have evolved quite a bit since
three years ago. What are someof the treatments now that are available they
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didn't used to be. So we'velearned so much, and science has taught
us so much about this virus,and it really took a worldwide response to
make this happen. But what we'velearned is that we have we have antiviral
medications that are specifically targeted to keeppeople out of the hospital. We have
both oral and intravenous forms of thesemedications. We used to have antibody treatments,
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although none of those are currently activebecause the virus has continued to mutate
over time. But it's important forpeople to know if they are at high
risk that they may qualify for thesetreatments and these treatments can be life altering
or even life saving. Doctor Stubblefield. Another thing they always say, treatment
prevention is worth a pound of cure. A lot of us have gotten our
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vaccine, probably the booster, probablythe second vaccine. Are we supposed to
continue to be getting these vaccinations andare the vaccinations different than what we got
before or is it more of abooster. So the vaccines are different from
what we got in the beginning.So at the beginning of the pandemic,
when the vaccine was first available,it was targeted at the strain that came
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over in late twenty nineteen overseas.Over time, the virus has continued to
mutate, which is what viruses doto make sure it stays alive and continues
to infect people. And so whatwe did is we added a second form
of the virus into the original vaccine. So many of the vaccines now where
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will be called bivalent or they havetwo different strains. The FDA yesterday had
recommended to the manufacturers that they thenchange the formulation of the vaccine to go
back to one form that is morefocused on what is currently circulating in the
United States for another fall vaccine,and it remains to be seen whether or
not this will be an ongoing vaccineprogram like a flu vaccine, where it
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will be made yearly, but againfor this year, we do know that
in the fall there will be anotherupdated vaccine more specifically targeted to what's out
there, and I know with theflu vaccine a lot of times those are
privalent, even quadravalent. Do yousee a situation maybe in the future where
the flu vaccine just incorporates the covidvaccinate all into one big, one,
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big shot. That is a possibility. The federal government has very strict safety
and efficacy guidelines, meaning that sowhen a vaccine is produced or even proposed,
it has to go through multiple roundsof study. It has to be
proven to be effective, and thisis the case for flu vaccines. The
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good thing is is the flu vaccineis quadrivalent, like you mentioned, it
has four strains in it, butit's also been over time shown to be
effective, so they don't have todo all the studies. But if they
were to come out with a dualvaccine, it would have to be shown
to be effective and that might takesome time. So we're still that may
be on the horizon. But we'restill waiting for that information, and I'm
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sure there's still people who they shouldconsult the especially if they're immunocompromised or they
have other underlying conditions, they shouldprobably consult their doctor to make sure that
they are right for this vaccination,as with any medical treatment that's exactly right.
But what I recommend is that anyonewho falls into one of those high
risk categories should have a discussion withtheir healthcare provider about the ways to keep
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themselves safe, make sure that theirchronic conditions are under control, and know
what to do if they do getinfected so that they can because these treatments
need to be started very quickly,so having a plan in place is very
very important. This is the AlabamaRadio Network. I'm John Mounts. I'm
talking with doctor Wesley Stubblefield from theAlabama Department of Public Health. Doctor Stubblefield,
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let's turn a little bit to whatthe Alabama Department of Public Health role
was during the pandemic and also whatthe role of the Department of Public Health
will continue to be as we moveforward with regard to COVID. So,
the Alabama Department of Public Health hada wide role in COVID nineteen. In
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the beginning, we were looked uponas both a source of products for hospitals,
so making sure that we had adequatemasks. These were being distributed through
some of the storage that we hadat Public Health and some of our emergency
supplies. We also were able torespond in places in the state that became
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overwhelmed with patients, so particularly hospitalsor emergency rooms. We were able to
set up mass vaccination or testing sites. The local health department served as a
place for people to come and getfree to testing and vaccines. We also
were responsible for communicating to the publicabout about their risks, helping helping some
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of our other agencies, and developingtheir own policies and procedures. We don't
mandate any of these things. Thiswas all done in cooperation, so for
example, the Department of Education itwith helping them make that and then also
just communicating to the general public aboutwhat's going on, what's changing from CDC,
how the landscape is changing, andthen showing data on our website.
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Those those were some of the waysthat Public Health responded to COVID nineteen.
Moving forward, we will continue todo all of those things are we are
positioned to move back into those ifwe if needed, because we have those
assets. But we will continue towork with the CDC to provide information to
the public, to make sure thatthe public is educated and has a source
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of information about COVID nineteen. Andone of those things, of course,
is what we're doing right now,which is continuing to educate people, making
sure the information is out there andin front of people. And I know,
as we move forward, you don'thave a crystal ball, but COVID
could continue to mutate and it couldbecome very very mild, or it could
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go in the other direction, ora brand new pandemic could erupt. And
so how what has the Alabama Departmentof Public Health learned from this pandemic that
you'll use in the future. Sowhat we've learned is that we need to
make sure that we have adequate assetsin place, meaning that we have we
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have trucks, we have vans,we have anything that we may need to
respond to any pandemic, whether that'spandemic and lonza, which is also a
possibility an unknown pandemic we've seen We'veseen concerns about ebolavirus coming to our shores.
So there are many times when wesee these threats coming across and we
need to be prepared. We've alsolearned so much about how to communicate with
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the public because COVID nineteen affected somany people in so many different ways.
We had to learn about that communicationtakes a team approach, and it's different
communication styles affect different types of people, and so we want to make sure
that we are communicating broadly effectively sothat the population can make sure that they're
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taking the proper precautions to move forwardto their lives and make our keep our
economy strong and our population healthy.Is one of the challenges that you faced
throughout this pandemic and going forward.The fact that people they become almost inundated,
They become tired because they hear themessage all the time about you know,
the importance of vaccination, the importanceof washing your hands, or all
(10:00):
these other things. How do youkeep the message UM fresh and make sure
people are still responding to it sothat they don't become almost immune to your
communication about community. No, you'reexactly right, Um, people talk about
not only people have talked about longCOVID and COVID fatigue. But people were
just COVID information fatigued, and wehad public health understand that because we had
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the same fatigue, because the informationthat we were getting sometimes was at the
same time as the public was gettingin UM. So So what we what
we need to do is to makesure that the information that we're providing is
up to date, that it's accurate, that it's actionable, UM, that
we're transparent with the public about whatwe're receiving from from CDC, what information
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we're receiving from our from our localhospitals, to develop the data to make
sure that people know what's going onUM that they have they can take clear
steps. They know where to goand get their treatments and their vaccines based
on their on their insures and abilityto pay. So there's so many things
that that ADPH can and continue todo. But it is inevitable that people
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would just just sort of grow tiredof COVID nineteen. But again, you
remember that there are so many peoplethat were so affected by this. There
were so many people that lost theirlives, that have chronic disabilities, that
were in ICUs, people were hurting, and people still hurt on a daily
basis. And we need to keepthose people in mind. These are these
are our citizens, our family members, our friends. You mentioned long COVID,
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and I wanted to go back andif I could broach that again with
you, because there are still peopleout there who perhaps they had maybe they
weren't even diagnosed, but they hadCOVID. They got better, but still
they're wondering why there shortness of breathor why they have these other lingering symptoms
that we've come to know as longCOVID. That's a real diagnosis. Are
there real treatments for people suffering fromlong COVID. So right now there is
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an extraordinary amount of research that's beingfunded about long COVID. Many of our
academic medical centers have opened long COVIDclinics to help patients move forward with this
diagnosis. We don't exactly know whylong COVID happens. There's a lot of
theories about that, but it isreal. People are people are suffering in
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These effects are affecting people and affectingtheir ability to work and move forward with
their lives. And what it's beenshown is that it takes a what we
call a multidisciplinary approach, meaning thatmany different people need to need to make
sure that there's not something else goingon, that they receive treatments for the
symptoms that they have and then treatmentsfor the to get them moving back into
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the right direction for their lives,their employment, their families, and just
their in their personal well being.Doctor stubble Fields, I want to thank
you so much for coming on withus today. If people want more information
about any of the things we've talkedabout or other resources with regard to COVID,
where can they hear so, youcan always go to our website,
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which is Alabama public Health dot gov. CDC dot gov has an immense amount
of resources that the public. It'spublic facing that people can read about what's
going on with COVID and long COVIDdata for their particular jurisdiction or their county
or their state. We'll continue tohost information on our website about what's going
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on in Alabama, and but Iencouraged everyone to keep this, keep this
in the back of their mind,and again reach out to those that you
know that are at high risk andmake sure that they know what to do
if they're infected. Doctor Wesley Stufflefieldfrom the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Thank you so much for joining methis week on Viewpoint Alabama. It's been
a pleasure and coming up this pastMonday, we observed Juneteenth, But what
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is it all about? We nowgo to Ryan Gorman with this report.
A new Gallup poll found about sixand ten Americans say they know a lot
or some about June teen. Thatmeans many of us are still learning about
the history an importance of Juneteenth.And to offer a comprehensive overview of the
holiday, I'm joined now by KellyNavies, Museum Specialist of Oral History at
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the Smithsonian National Museum of African AmericanHistory and Culture. Kelly, thanks so
much for coming on the show.Now, before we get to the events
of June nineteenth that led to thisholiday, can you set the stage for
us and run through some of whathappened leading up to that date. So
you're talking about the end of theCivil War. The Civil War had officially
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ended at April of eighteen sixty five. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in the
middle of the Civil War, andit was really a wartime strategy, and
that was in January first, eighteensixty three, and that only had an
impact on states in the Confederacy.So it's not impacts you. If you
were in a state such as Texasthat had very little Union presence, your
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life did not change if you werean enslaved individual. And so you're talking
about the aftermath of the Civil War. The country somewhat still in the state
of disarray. The Confederacy has notfully accepted the authority of the United States
of America. So the Union troopsare needed to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
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And that is exactly the setting forGMT. You know, it can be
kind of hard to comprehend what itmust have been like to live in that
time period. So connected these days, we get so much information in an
instant but back then, obviously thatwasn't the case. How was words spreading
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about what was happening across the country. Well, yeah, so people think
that they didn't know about it atall, and that's not exactly true.
There were networks amongst the inslaved whensome people were Some of the inslaves had
jobs, for example, that tookthem on the road, and whenever they
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did that, they would pass messages. So it isn't that they didn't necessarily
know and as well as the slaveowners. Of course you had horses and
trains and such carrying information. Ofcourse we didn't have the Internet, but
they were aware of what had happenedwith the Emancipation Proclamation. It was just
that they had no intention of enforcingit. And those African Americans who were
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still there and under those conditions,there was something that they could do because
their lives would be threat if theyattempted to assert their freedom. There were
many who ran away, of course, but those were African Americans that were
closer to Union line. And thisspecific date, June team how did this
become the date that now we celebrateas federal holiday. So on June nineteenth,
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eighteen sixty five, General Boarding Grangerarrives in Galveston, Texas, was
about two thousand Union troops, andsome of those troops were United States Colored
Troops and the troops who were necessaryto enforce the order Orders number three,
which basically confirmed the Emancipation Proclamation andlet them know that they were no longer
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legally enslaved. And this it wasenforced again by the presence of these troops.
Without the presence of these troops,it would be meaningless of General Gordon
Granger had shown up by himself,they would have said get out of here
with that news, right, buthe had the troops, and this actually
went on in different cities throughout Texasas well. The African Americans who were
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freed as a result of that announcementand the enforcement of the Union troops,
they began to celebrate genteenth the followingyear in Houston in eighteen sixty six,
and it spread from there and it'sbeen celebrated in Texas non stop since that
day. Sent a state holiday inTexas since nineteen seventy nine, and some
other places as well, and withthe Great Migration, it started to spread.
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I grew up in California. Wewere celebrating it there, or Berkeley
has been celebrating June tenth since thaneteeneighty six. So things were building to
the point where now, of course, we have this federal holiday and people
around the entire country are finally gettingto know what Juneteente is and what it's
about and why it's important to celebrate. Taking a look at that year,
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following the arrival of General Granger andhis troops to Texas to announce that they
were going to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. From that period of time to the
first anniversary of June tenth, thefirst commemoration of that day tell us about
some of the events that transpired inTexas and across the country. Well,
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of course, they were supposed toclause and the states that they have to
maintain our relationship as employer and higherlabor with their former slave owners. That
was an interesting clause. So theyhad to either stay in the area and
become officially employed or try to leavethe area. This is what we're talking
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This is an era of reconstruction.It is a very very chaotic period in
American history. And of course therewere troops throughout the state, but Texas
being a very large state, itwas still quite dangerous if you were trying
to leave. And a lot ofAfrican Americans today try to leave in that
period because many of them have beensold away as a domestic slave trade.
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In the previous years leading up tothe Civil War, there was a huge
domestic slave trade that continued in Overa million African Americans were displaced from places
like Maryland and sent for deeper south. So people wanted to return to their
families, They wanted to bring theirfamilies together. So many people tried to
leave, a lot of people stayedthat those that stayed banded together in communities
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and raised money to buy land.And Houston, Reverend Jacket led his community
and they raised money and they boughtproperty in Houston and started a part Emancipation
Parts available to African Americans in Houston, and a similar development throughout the nation
where people formed bought land. AfricanAmericans bought land and formed Emancipation Park so
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that they could have spaces to celebrateJune Teams. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined
by Kelly Navy's Museum Specialist of OralHistory at the Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture. You canfind out more about all of their work
on Juneteenth at NMAAHC dot SI dotedu. That's NMAAHC dot SI dot edu.
(20:45):
So, as we get further andfurther removed from the original commemoration of
juneteent, what were some of theother events that have taken place some of
the notable moments that led up tomore recently June Team eventually becoming a federally
recognized holiday. That's a complicated question, but I can list some of the
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milestones, But I mean a lotof things that happened. For example,
just with the celebration itself evolved.The first Juneteenth, you had actual people
still living who would provely call slavery, and those people would share and give
testimony to their experience. They sangspirituals. Then the Black National anthem,
which is now a feature of allGuneteent that wasn't written until nineteen hundred,
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right, so it wasn't until afternineteen hundred. Is that becomes a part
of the holiday. And what yousee is as a culture evolved. As
African American culture evolved, the celebrationof Juneteent changes and then of course their
different developments taking place to World Wartwo, the Great Migration, when the
African Americans have left the South thousandsby the thousands and took their celebrations with
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them, not just any tea butother aspects of the culture as well.
But Junetee was one of the thingsthat traveled. Particularly you see a lot
of Texans moving out west to California. Of course it's celebrated in Oklahoma as
well. Then the celebration kind ofwanes a little bit and becomes up again
during the Civil Rights movement. Inthe nineteen sixty eight you have the Poor
People's Campaign, where you have activistsof all races coming to Washington, DC
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to advocate for the rights of thepoor. This is a campaign started by
doctor Martin US King in the SCLC, but it involved many different activists.
You're around the country. And atthe end of that campaign they had a
Solidarity Day and it was on Junenineteenth, nineteen sixty eight, June tenth,
So many of these activists learned aboutgun tines for the first time.
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And this is around the time,for example, that my father learned this
holiday. And then it settled downand again it was mainly celebrated in Texas,
around Oklahoma, parts of California wherethose people moved in there were pockets.
But it wasn't until the last fewyears when there were many, many,
many incidents that occur that George Floyd, what's going on with that?
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People started to learn about the Tulsamassacre. Um, why why why are
we having these problems with race inthis country. Clearly we haven't resolved a
lot of the issues of that timeperiod, issues of citizenship and democracy for
example, UM that people were fightingfor in reconstruction are still big issues today.
So Juneteenth places um a light onthose issues and gives us an opportunity
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to meditate on how far we've come, What does freedom mean, what does
it mean to be an American?How do we all and utilize the citizenship
that we have as Americans. Sothis is a time that Juneteenth gives us
a space and a place to reflecton those things and to celebrate how far
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we've actually come. And I thinkadditionally, Americans are looking for a way
to come together like this. Thisholiday started by African Americans, but it's
American history, right. The CivilWar is American history, The emancipation proclamations
the American history. General Gordon Grangerwas a white man. Union troops were
both races, were all races.Were all Americans are different races, right,
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So this is something that reflects allof our history and the continuing struggle
for freedom and the demand for citizenship. As new people move into our country,
they can look back to Unitee asa way to to see where this
journey began in the United States ofAmerica. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by
Kelly Navies, Museum Specialist of OralHistory at the Smithsonian National Museum of African
(24:42):
American History and Culture. We're talkingabout the history of Juneteenth within African American
communities across the country. How muchhas the importance of this Juneteenth date,
what took place so many years agoon June nineteenth. How much has that
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grown, especially as June team hasbecome the focal point of this push to
make it a federally recognized holiday.Well, it's grown tremendously, not just
for African Americans, but for allAmericans in the past few years. I
mean that's someone who has been celebratingit in my family. Each year,
new people come, so we sawit grow with each year. Each year
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we would invite any and everybody aroundand people would show up, and whenever
they would come to Argentine, theywould always come to next year. They
would like, this is fantastic.They love the presentation, the cultural presentation
with children would perform, and thepoetry and the music and of course the
delicious foods, and people would say, oh, I love this. I
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mean, this is like such agood mix of the generations and learning about
history and celebrating our elders, butalso looking towards the future and nurturing the
children, and it would just growwith each year. But now, of
course, as it became a federalholiday, one of the best pieces of
news that we've that and the difficultlast two to three years, more and
more people are learning about it,and I believe that it will continue to
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grow. You mentioned a couple ofthings that many in this country are still
learning more and more about, Juneteenthbeing one of them. Also, the
Tulsa Race massacre was something you mentioned. Was there anything else looking back at
that time period from the end ofthe Civil War Juneteenth, that June nineteenth
date through you know, the nextcouple of decades that really stands out to
(26:33):
you that you think is notable andis worth discussing further, like we have
begun to do with Juneteenth, theend of slavery, with things like the
Tulsa Race massacre, well it wasreconstruction. Is a rich, rich,
rich period. I mean, thisis when you see the roots of public
education in the United States of America. People don't understand it. There's a
(26:56):
newly freed to African Americans or someof the first to push for the education
for public education because of course thatwas one of the on the top things
in their list, and they hadbeen unable to go to school while they
were enslaved, and one of thefirst things that they were able to do
to get out and learn how toread and write and to have their children
have access to in education. Sothat's a huge issue, and we see
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that right now. Education is stilla huge issue, the state of public
education and what is taught right inthe schools. Voting rights, that was
another big issue. Black men earnedthe right to vote with the fourteenth Amendment
and people with the fifteenth Amendment ratherthan those thirteen fourteen to fifteen Amendment for
those reconstruction amendments. Women of coursedid not have the vote as any race
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at that time, but black menstarted to exercise the right to vote.
But even as they were exercising theright to vote, they did that there's
a set of violence. Many werekilled trying to exercise the right to vote
then, and of course the reconstruction. There was a backlash to Reconstruction,
(28:03):
starting in eighteen seventy seven when theUnion troops were removed from the South and
continuing up to the passes of Plussyversus Ferguson in eighteen ninety six. For
separate Black equal law, and thenyou see voting rights almost completely taken away
from African Americans throughout the South untilwhat we know of as a modern civil
rights right sixty years later. Soall of this is going on in the
(28:27):
Reconstruction era, education, early business, voting rights, even the beginnings of
women's rights movements of course white women, but Black women as well were starting
the beginnings of become of their ownconventions and struggle for civil rights as well.
You see the roots of that duringthe era of Reconstruction. So it's
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a it's a very rich period andit was a spirit period as well,
I mean violent. You know,people African Americans who were once chattel,
right, they had values that civilwar they no longer had value, so
their lives weren't worth much, andmany of them were to trying to assert
this their rights and to basic thingslike own property for another reason. Right.
(29:14):
Kelly Navy's Museum specialist of Oral Historyat the Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture. You canlearn more at NMAAHC dot SI dot edu.
Kelly, we really appreciate the time. Thank you so much for coming
on and talking to us about thehistory of this juneteen holiday. Oh,
(29:34):
it's been my pleasure and I'm actuallyjust getting started. Thank you. You've
been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, apublic affairs program from the Alabama Radio Network.
The opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama arenot necessarily those of the staff,
management, or advertisers of this station.
This is Viewpoint Alabama, a publicservice of the Alabama Radio Network where we
talk about the people, the places, and the things making news in our
state. I'm your host, JohnMounts, and today we're joined by one
of the people that we got toknow so very well during the pandemic from
the Alabama Department of Public Health.Here's doctor Wesley Stopplefield. Doctor Stopplefield,
welcome to the show. Thank youfor having me. I'm delighted to have
(00:26):
you on. And We've got somegood news for everyone who doesn't already know
it, but I think pretty mucheveryone does it. The pandemic is it's
officially it's ending, right, Soin certain ways yes and anothers know.
The federal government has declared that thepandemic is no longer a public health emergency,
(00:48):
meaning that the pandemic is no longerdisrupting life as it was before.
And there are many factors that playinto this, primarily that most people,
if not all people, have eitherhad a vaccine or the infection treatments and
vaccines are widespread, and the amountof illness that this is causing has decreased
over time. So we are definitelymoving into a new phase of the pandemic
(01:14):
from this point forward. I've heardthe word endemic used in other words,
it's pretty much it's out there,it's everywhere. But it's because it's everywhere,
people have started to adapt, that'sright. Coronaviruses like COVID nineteen are
endemic viruses in our population. Sowe have others that are not COVID nineteen
that continue to circulate on a regularbasis, and COVID nineteen is suspected and
(01:38):
expected to become one of those virusesthat just will continue to affect our lives
over time. And that being thecase, we have to adapt. Just
like as we did during the pandemic, we have to adapt to it being
endemic because we can't just go onabout our lives as we were before.
Right, there are still things thatwe need to keep in mind, that's
(02:00):
right. The most important thing thatwe need to think about as a population
is who is at highest risk forsevere disease. And this goes for many
respiratory viruses, not just COVID nineteen, but we also think about RSV or
respiratory since issiovirus or influenza virus.Some people would get very, very sick,
and those risk factors are pretty consistentacross groups, meaning those of older
(02:23):
age, those that have underlying weakenedimmune systems, but maybe the very young
and others with chronic medical conditions shouldcontinue to take this seriously because they may
get sick, they may end upin the hospital, and we have ways
of keeping people out of the hospitalthat include both vaccines and treatments. I
was going to ask about that becausethe treatments have evolved quite a bit since
three years ago. What are someof the treatments now that are available they
(02:46):
didn't used to be. So we'velearned so much, and science has taught
us so much about this virus,and it really took a worldwide response to
make this happen. But what we'velearned is that we have we have antiviral
medications that are specifically targeted to keeppeople out of the hospital. We have
both oral and intravenous forms of thesemedications. We used to have antibody treatments,
(03:10):
although none of those are currently activebecause the virus has continued to mutate
over time. But it's important forpeople to know if they are at high
risk that they may qualify for thesetreatments and these treatments can be life altering
or even life saving. Doctor Stubblefield. Another thing they always say, treatment
prevention is worth a pound of cure. A lot of us have gotten our
(03:34):
vaccine, probably the booster, probablythe second vaccine. Are we supposed to
continue to be getting these vaccinations andare the vaccinations different than what we got
before or is it more of abooster. So the vaccines are different from
what we got in the beginning.So at the beginning of the pandemic,
when the vaccine was first available,it was targeted at the strain that came
(03:55):
over in late twenty nineteen overseas.Over time, the virus has continued to
mutate, which is what viruses doto make sure it stays alive and continues
to infect people. And so whatwe did is we added a second form
of the virus into the original vaccine. So many of the vaccines now where
(04:15):
will be called bivalent or they havetwo different strains. The FDA yesterday had
recommended to the manufacturers that they thenchange the formulation of the vaccine to go
back to one form that is morefocused on what is currently circulating in the
United States for another fall vaccine,and it remains to be seen whether or
not this will be an ongoing vaccineprogram like a flu vaccine, where it
(04:40):
will be made yearly, but againfor this year, we do know that
in the fall there will be anotherupdated vaccine more specifically targeted to what's out
there, and I know with theflu vaccine a lot of times those are
privalent, even quadravalent. Do yousee a situation maybe in the future where
the flu vaccine just incorporates the covidvaccinate all into one big, one,
(05:00):
big shot. That is a possibility. The federal government has very strict safety
and efficacy guidelines, meaning that sowhen a vaccine is produced or even proposed,
it has to go through multiple roundsof study. It has to be
proven to be effective, and thisis the case for flu vaccines. The
(05:21):
good thing is is the flu vaccineis quadrivalent, like you mentioned, it
has four strains in it, butit's also been over time shown to be
effective, so they don't have todo all the studies. But if they
were to come out with a dualvaccine, it would have to be shown
to be effective and that might takesome time. So we're still that may
be on the horizon. But we'restill waiting for that information, and I'm
(05:44):
sure there's still people who they shouldconsult the especially if they're immunocompromised or they
have other underlying conditions, they shouldprobably consult their doctor to make sure that
they are right for this vaccination,as with any medical treatment that's exactly right.
But what I recommend is that anyonewho falls into one of those high
risk categories should have a discussion withtheir healthcare provider about the ways to keep
(06:05):
themselves safe, make sure that theirchronic conditions are under control, and know
what to do if they do getinfected so that they can because these treatments
need to be started very quickly,so having a plan in place is very
very important. This is the AlabamaRadio Network. I'm John Mounts. I'm
talking with doctor Wesley Stubblefield from theAlabama Department of Public Health. Doctor Stubblefield,
(06:25):
let's turn a little bit to whatthe Alabama Department of Public Health role
was during the pandemic and also whatthe role of the Department of Public Health
will continue to be as we moveforward with regard to COVID. So,
the Alabama Department of Public Health hada wide role in COVID nineteen. In
(06:45):
the beginning, we were looked uponas both a source of products for hospitals,
so making sure that we had adequatemasks. These were being distributed through
some of the storage that we hadat Public Health and some of our emergency
supplies. We also were able torespond in places in the state that became
(07:06):
overwhelmed with patients, so particularly hospitalsor emergency rooms. We were able to
set up mass vaccination or testing sites. The local health department served as a
place for people to come and getfree to testing and vaccines. We also
were responsible for communicating to the publicabout about their risks, helping helping some
(07:29):
of our other agencies, and developingtheir own policies and procedures. We don't
mandate any of these things. Thiswas all done in cooperation, so for
example, the Department of Education itwith helping them make that and then also
just communicating to the general public aboutwhat's going on, what's changing from CDC,
how the landscape is changing, andthen showing data on our website.
(07:49):
Those those were some of the waysthat Public Health responded to COVID nineteen.
Moving forward, we will continue todo all of those things are we are
positioned to move back into those ifwe if needed, because we have those
assets. But we will continue towork with the CDC to provide information to
the public, to make sure thatthe public is educated and has a source
(08:11):
of information about COVID nineteen. Andone of those things, of course,
is what we're doing right now,which is continuing to educate people, making
sure the information is out there andin front of people. And I know,
as we move forward, you don'thave a crystal ball, but COVID
could continue to mutate and it couldbecome very very mild, or it could
(08:31):
go in the other direction, ora brand new pandemic could erupt. And
so how what has the Alabama Departmentof Public Health learned from this pandemic that
you'll use in the future. Sowhat we've learned is that we need to
make sure that we have adequate assetsin place, meaning that we have we
(08:52):
have trucks, we have vans,we have anything that we may need to
respond to any pandemic, whether that'spandemic and lonza, which is also a
possibility an unknown pandemic we've seen We'veseen concerns about ebolavirus coming to our shores.
So there are many times when wesee these threats coming across and we
need to be prepared. We've alsolearned so much about how to communicate with
(09:16):
the public because COVID nineteen affected somany people in so many different ways.
We had to learn about that communicationtakes a team approach, and it's different
communication styles affect different types of people, and so we want to make sure
that we are communicating broadly effectively sothat the population can make sure that they're
(09:37):
taking the proper precautions to move forwardto their lives and make our keep our
economy strong and our population healthy.Is one of the challenges that you faced
throughout this pandemic and going forward.The fact that people they become almost inundated,
They become tired because they hear themessage all the time about you know,
the importance of vaccination, the importanceof washing your hands, or all
(10:00):
these other things. How do youkeep the message UM fresh and make sure
people are still responding to it sothat they don't become almost immune to your
communication about community. No, you'reexactly right, Um, people talk about
not only people have talked about longCOVID and COVID fatigue. But people were
just COVID information fatigued, and wehad public health understand that because we had
(10:24):
the same fatigue, because the informationthat we were getting sometimes was at the
same time as the public was gettingin UM. So So what we what
we need to do is to makesure that the information that we're providing is
up to date, that it's accurate, that it's actionable, UM, that
we're transparent with the public about whatwe're receiving from from CDC, what information
(10:45):
we're receiving from our from our localhospitals, to develop the data to make
sure that people know what's going onUM that they have they can take clear
steps. They know where to goand get their treatments and their vaccines based
on their on their insures and abilityto pay. So there's so many things
that that ADPH can and continue todo. But it is inevitable that people
(11:07):
would just just sort of grow tiredof COVID nineteen. But again, you
remember that there are so many peoplethat were so affected by this. There
were so many people that lost theirlives, that have chronic disabilities, that
were in ICUs, people were hurting, and people still hurt on a daily
basis. And we need to keepthose people in mind. These are these
are our citizens, our family members, our friends. You mentioned long COVID,
(11:30):
and I wanted to go back andif I could broach that again with
you, because there are still peopleout there who perhaps they had maybe they
weren't even diagnosed, but they hadCOVID. They got better, but still
they're wondering why there shortness of breathor why they have these other lingering symptoms
that we've come to know as longCOVID. That's a real diagnosis. Are
there real treatments for people suffering fromlong COVID. So right now there is
(11:58):
an extraordinary amount of research that's beingfunded about long COVID. Many of our
academic medical centers have opened long COVIDclinics to help patients move forward with this
diagnosis. We don't exactly know whylong COVID happens. There's a lot of
theories about that, but it isreal. People are people are suffering in
(12:18):
These effects are affecting people and affectingtheir ability to work and move forward with
their lives. And what it's beenshown is that it takes a what we
call a multidisciplinary approach, meaning thatmany different people need to need to make
sure that there's not something else goingon, that they receive treatments for the
symptoms that they have and then treatmentsfor the to get them moving back into
(12:41):
the right direction for their lives,their employment, their families, and just
their in their personal well being.Doctor stubble Fields, I want to thank
you so much for coming on withus today. If people want more information
about any of the things we've talkedabout or other resources with regard to COVID,
where can they hear so, youcan always go to our website,
(13:01):
which is Alabama public Health dot gov. CDC dot gov has an immense amount
of resources that the public. It'spublic facing that people can read about what's
going on with COVID and long COVIDdata for their particular jurisdiction or their county
or their state. We'll continue tohost information on our website about what's going
(13:24):
on in Alabama, and but Iencouraged everyone to keep this, keep this
in the back of their mind,and again reach out to those that you
know that are at high risk andmake sure that they know what to do
if they're infected. Doctor Wesley Stufflefieldfrom the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Thank you so much for joining methis week on Viewpoint Alabama. It's been
a pleasure and coming up this pastMonday, we observed Juneteenth, But what
(13:48):
is it all about? We nowgo to Ryan Gorman with this report.
A new Gallup poll found about sixand ten Americans say they know a lot
or some about June teen. Thatmeans many of us are still learning about
the history an importance of Juneteenth.And to offer a comprehensive overview of the
holiday, I'm joined now by KellyNavies, Museum Specialist of Oral History at
(14:11):
the Smithsonian National Museum of African AmericanHistory and Culture. Kelly, thanks so
much for coming on the show.Now, before we get to the events
of June nineteenth that led to thisholiday, can you set the stage for
us and run through some of whathappened leading up to that date. So
you're talking about the end of theCivil War. The Civil War had officially
(14:33):
ended at April of eighteen sixty five. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in the
middle of the Civil War, andit was really a wartime strategy, and
that was in January first, eighteensixty three, and that only had an
impact on states in the Confederacy.So it's not impacts you. If you
were in a state such as Texasthat had very little Union presence, your
(14:54):
life did not change if you werean enslaved individual. And so you're talking
about the aftermath of the Civil War. The country somewhat still in the state
of disarray. The Confederacy has notfully accepted the authority of the United States
of America. So the Union troopsare needed to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
(15:15):
And that is exactly the setting forGMT. You know, it can be
kind of hard to comprehend what itmust have been like to live in that
time period. So connected these days, we get so much information in an
instant but back then, obviously thatwasn't the case. How was words spreading
(15:37):
about what was happening across the country. Well, yeah, so people think
that they didn't know about it atall, and that's not exactly true.
There were networks amongst the inslaved whensome people were Some of the inslaves had
jobs, for example, that tookthem on the road, and whenever they
(15:58):
did that, they would pass messages. So it isn't that they didn't necessarily
know and as well as the slaveowners. Of course you had horses and
trains and such carrying information. Ofcourse we didn't have the Internet, but
they were aware of what had happenedwith the Emancipation Proclamation. It was just
that they had no intention of enforcingit. And those African Americans who were
(16:19):
still there and under those conditions,there was something that they could do because
their lives would be threat if theyattempted to assert their freedom. There were
many who ran away, of course, but those were African Americans that were
closer to Union line. And thisspecific date, June team how did this
become the date that now we celebrateas federal holiday. So on June nineteenth,
(16:44):
eighteen sixty five, General Boarding Grangerarrives in Galveston, Texas, was
about two thousand Union troops, andsome of those troops were United States Colored
Troops and the troops who were necessaryto enforce the order Orders number three,
which basically confirmed the Emancipation Proclamation andlet them know that they were no longer
(17:07):
legally enslaved. And this it wasenforced again by the presence of these troops.
Without the presence of these troops,it would be meaningless of General Gordon
Granger had shown up by himself,they would have said get out of here
with that news, right, buthe had the troops, and this actually
went on in different cities throughout Texasas well. The African Americans who were
(17:32):
freed as a result of that announcementand the enforcement of the Union troops,
they began to celebrate genteenth the followingyear in Houston in eighteen sixty six,
and it spread from there and it'sbeen celebrated in Texas non stop since that
day. Sent a state holiday inTexas since nineteen seventy nine, and some
other places as well, and withthe Great Migration, it started to spread.
(17:56):
I grew up in California. Wewere celebrating it there, or Berkeley
has been celebrating June tenth since thaneteeneighty six. So things were building to
the point where now, of course, we have this federal holiday and people
around the entire country are finally gettingto know what Juneteente is and what it's
about and why it's important to celebrate. Taking a look at that year,
(18:18):
following the arrival of General Granger andhis troops to Texas to announce that they
were going to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. From that period of time to the
first anniversary of June tenth, thefirst commemoration of that day tell us about
some of the events that transpired inTexas and across the country. Well,
(18:45):
of course, they were supposed toclause and the states that they have to
maintain our relationship as employer and higherlabor with their former slave owners. That
was an interesting clause. So theyhad to either stay in the area and
become officially employed or try to leavethe area. This is what we're talking
(19:07):
This is an era of reconstruction.It is a very very chaotic period in
American history. And of course therewere troops throughout the state, but Texas
being a very large state, itwas still quite dangerous if you were trying
to leave. And a lot ofAfrican Americans today try to leave in that
period because many of them have beensold away as a domestic slave trade.
(19:30):
In the previous years leading up tothe Civil War, there was a huge
domestic slave trade that continued in Overa million African Americans were displaced from places
like Maryland and sent for deeper south. So people wanted to return to their
families, They wanted to bring theirfamilies together. So many people tried to
leave, a lot of people stayedthat those that stayed banded together in communities
(19:55):
and raised money to buy land.And Houston, Reverend Jacket led his community
and they raised money and they boughtproperty in Houston and started a part Emancipation
Parts available to African Americans in Houston, and a similar development throughout the nation
where people formed bought land. AfricanAmericans bought land and formed Emancipation Park so
(20:17):
that they could have spaces to celebrateJune Teams. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined
by Kelly Navy's Museum Specialist of OralHistory at the Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture. You canfind out more about all of their work
on Juneteenth at NMAAHC dot SI dotedu. That's NMAAHC dot SI dot edu.
(20:45):
So, as we get further andfurther removed from the original commemoration of
juneteent, what were some of theother events that have taken place some of
the notable moments that led up tomore recently June Team eventually becoming a federally
recognized holiday. That's a complicated question, but I can list some of the
(21:10):
milestones, But I mean a lotof things that happened. For example,
just with the celebration itself evolved.The first Juneteenth, you had actual people
still living who would provely call slavery, and those people would share and give
testimony to their experience. They sangspirituals. Then the Black National anthem,
which is now a feature of allGuneteent that wasn't written until nineteen hundred,
(21:33):
right, so it wasn't until afternineteen hundred. Is that becomes a part
of the holiday. And what yousee is as a culture evolved. As
African American culture evolved, the celebrationof Juneteent changes and then of course their
different developments taking place to World Wartwo, the Great Migration, when the
African Americans have left the South thousandsby the thousands and took their celebrations with
(21:56):
them, not just any tea butother aspects of the culture as well.
But Junetee was one of the thingsthat traveled. Particularly you see a lot
of Texans moving out west to California. Of course it's celebrated in Oklahoma as
well. Then the celebration kind ofwanes a little bit and becomes up again
during the Civil Rights movement. Inthe nineteen sixty eight you have the Poor
People's Campaign, where you have activistsof all races coming to Washington, DC
(22:22):
to advocate for the rights of thepoor. This is a campaign started by
doctor Martin US King in the SCLC, but it involved many different activists.
You're around the country. And atthe end of that campaign they had a
Solidarity Day and it was on Junenineteenth, nineteen sixty eight, June tenth,
So many of these activists learned aboutgun tines for the first time.
(22:45):
And this is around the time,for example, that my father learned this
holiday. And then it settled downand again it was mainly celebrated in Texas,
around Oklahoma, parts of California wherethose people moved in there were pockets.
But it wasn't until the last fewyears when there were many, many,
many incidents that occur that George Floyd, what's going on with that?
(23:07):
People started to learn about the Tulsamassacre. Um, why why why are
we having these problems with race inthis country. Clearly we haven't resolved a
lot of the issues of that timeperiod, issues of citizenship and democracy for
example, UM that people were fightingfor in reconstruction are still big issues today.
So Juneteenth places um a light onthose issues and gives us an opportunity
(23:32):
to meditate on how far we've come, What does freedom mean, what does
it mean to be an American?How do we all and utilize the citizenship
that we have as Americans. Sothis is a time that Juneteenth gives us
a space and a place to reflecton those things and to celebrate how far
(23:52):
we've actually come. And I thinkadditionally, Americans are looking for a way
to come together like this. Thisholiday started by African Americans, but it's
American history, right. The CivilWar is American history, The emancipation proclamations
the American history. General Gordon Grangerwas a white man. Union troops were
both races, were all races.Were all Americans are different races, right,
(24:18):
So this is something that reflects allof our history and the continuing struggle
for freedom and the demand for citizenship. As new people move into our country,
they can look back to Unitee asa way to to see where this
journey began in the United States ofAmerica. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by
Kelly Navies, Museum Specialist of OralHistory at the Smithsonian National Museum of African
(24:42):
American History and Culture. We're talkingabout the history of Juneteenth within African American
communities across the country. How muchhas the importance of this Juneteenth date,
what took place so many years agoon June nineteenth. How much has that
(25:02):
grown, especially as June team hasbecome the focal point of this push to
make it a federally recognized holiday.Well, it's grown tremendously, not just
for African Americans, but for allAmericans in the past few years. I
mean that's someone who has been celebratingit in my family. Each year,
new people come, so we sawit grow with each year. Each year
(25:22):
we would invite any and everybody aroundand people would show up, and whenever
they would come to Argentine, theywould always come to next year. They
would like, this is fantastic.They love the presentation, the cultural presentation
with children would perform, and thepoetry and the music and of course the
delicious foods, and people would say, oh, I love this. I
(25:44):
mean, this is like such agood mix of the generations and learning about
history and celebrating our elders, butalso looking towards the future and nurturing the
children, and it would just growwith each year. But now, of
course, as it became a federalholiday, one of the best pieces of
news that we've that and the difficultlast two to three years, more and
more people are learning about it,and I believe that it will continue to
(26:06):
grow. You mentioned a couple ofthings that many in this country are still
learning more and more about, Juneteenthbeing one of them. Also, the
Tulsa Race massacre was something you mentioned. Was there anything else looking back at
that time period from the end ofthe Civil War Juneteenth, that June nineteenth
date through you know, the nextcouple of decades that really stands out to
(26:33):
you that you think is notable andis worth discussing further, like we have
begun to do with Juneteenth, theend of slavery, with things like the
Tulsa Race massacre, well it wasreconstruction. Is a rich, rich,
rich period. I mean, thisis when you see the roots of public
education in the United States of America. People don't understand it. There's a
(26:56):
newly freed to African Americans or someof the first to push for the education
for public education because of course thatwas one of the on the top things
in their list, and they hadbeen unable to go to school while they
were enslaved, and one of thefirst things that they were able to do
to get out and learn how toread and write and to have their children
have access to in education. Sothat's a huge issue, and we see
(27:19):
that right now. Education is stilla huge issue, the state of public
education and what is taught right inthe schools. Voting rights, that was
another big issue. Black men earnedthe right to vote with the fourteenth Amendment
and people with the fifteenth Amendment ratherthan those thirteen fourteen to fifteen Amendment for
those reconstruction amendments. Women of coursedid not have the vote as any race
(27:42):
at that time, but black menstarted to exercise the right to vote.
But even as they were exercising theright to vote, they did that there's
a set of violence. Many werekilled trying to exercise the right to vote
then, and of course the reconstruction. There was a backlash to Reconstruction,
(28:03):
starting in eighteen seventy seven when theUnion troops were removed from the South and
continuing up to the passes of Plussyversus Ferguson in eighteen ninety six. For
separate Black equal law, and thenyou see voting rights almost completely taken away
from African Americans throughout the South untilwhat we know of as a modern civil
rights right sixty years later. Soall of this is going on in the
(28:27):
Reconstruction era, education, early business, voting rights, even the beginnings of
women's rights movements of course white women, but Black women as well were starting
the beginnings of become of their ownconventions and struggle for civil rights as well.
You see the roots of that duringthe era of Reconstruction. So it's
(28:48):
a it's a very rich period andit was a spirit period as well,
I mean violent. You know,people African Americans who were once chattel,
right, they had values that civilwar they no longer had value, so
their lives weren't worth much, andmany of them were to trying to assert
this their rights and to basic thingslike own property for another reason. Right.
(29:14):
Kelly Navy's Museum specialist of Oral Historyat the Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture. You canlearn more at NMAAHC dot SI dot edu.
Kelly, we really appreciate the time. Thank you so much for coming
on and talking to us about thehistory of this juneteen holiday. Oh,
(29:34):
it's been my pleasure and I'm actuallyjust getting started. Thank you. You've
been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, apublic affairs program from the Alabama Radio Network.
The opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama arenot necessarily those of the staff,
management, or advertisers of this station.
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