Social Distance
Journalists from The Atlantic document the first 15 months of the coronavirus pandemic through regular phone calls. Listen in as Dr. Jim Hamblin, the producer Katherine Wells, and the comedian and the writer Maeve Higgins ask journalists, experts, and friends about the news and science behind the pandemic, get some advice, and learn how to apply it.
Episodes
October 23, 2021 • 2 mins
On The Review, The Atlantic's writers and guests discuss how we entertain ourselves and how that shapes the way we understand the world. Please subscribe and enjoy!
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October 13, 2021 • 2 mins
Hello Social Distance listeners! We'd like to introduce you to a new show.
In this series, host Arthur Brooks digs into research and offers tools to help you live more joyfully. Join us for deep conversations with psychologists, experts, and friends of The Atlantic's Chief Happiness Correspondent. For more info, visit www.theatlantic.com/happy, or search for How to Build a Happy Life on your podcast app.
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June 10, 2021 • 30 mins
Though the pandemic continues around the world, the end appears in sight in the United States. At the same time, this episode will mark the last one for Social Distance.
Jim, Maeve, and returning host Katherine Wells gather to say goodbye to the show, listen to voicemails from past expert guests, and reflect on what we’ve learned these last fifteen months.
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June 3, 2021 • 38 mins
While case counts in the U.S. continue to drop, there are still headlines about variants and "breakthrough" infections that might worry you. Fortunately, The Atlantic staff writer Katherine Wu explains to James Hamblin and Maeve Higgins why these shouldn't alarm us just yet. And staff writer Sarah Zhang drops in to help figure out how to keep pandemic puppies from being too anxious as people return to pre-pandemic routines.
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May 27, 2021 • 34 mins
Now that Jim's "Quite Possibly Wonderful Summer" is coming to fruition, a lot of listeners have been considering the present and future. Can you go to a tango festival? What should parents be watching for? And why, exactly, is the Surgeon General wearing that uniform? Hit play for answers and a short history lesson from historian and listener Ruth Fairbanks.
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May 20, 2021 • 40 mins
We've all been suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic in one way or another, and as the U.S. starts to emerge, we'll need to reckon with that. The Atlantic's Ed Yong discusses his piece on pandemic trauma, how to think about it, and what he's learned in talking to psychiatrists and other experts.
We want to hear from you! Email your questions or concerns to socialdistance@theatlantic.com or leave a voicemail at 202-642-6487.
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May 13, 2021 • 34 mins
When the Biden administration announced support for waiving COVID vaccine patents last week, it was met with praise, relief, skepticism, and alarm among different groups—but surprise all around. Pharmaceutical giants have long fought efforts to have their intellectual property released to meet international needs. And they’ve backed it up with immense political muscle. Could this time be different? Would it disincentivize future re...
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May 6, 2021 • 44 mins
Writer F.T. Kola returns to recount her experience with long COVID. What explains its strange constellation of symptoms? Will it ever go away? And why does vaccination seem to help?
F.T., Jim, and Maeve are joined by Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist investigating long COVID at her Yale lab. She explains what we know about the condition — and how two theories about its root cause mean the difference between a cure and no clear end...
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April 29, 2021 • 35 mins
While wealthier countries reopen, India and the rest of the world face a terrifying new peak in the pandemic. How did it come to this? What can be done? And with new variants and limited supplies, how does the global vaccine strategy need to change to prevent more coronavirus spikes?
Staff writer Yasmeen Serhan joins Jim and Maeve to explain.
Jim’s piece: One Vaccine to Rule Them All
Yasmeen’s piece: India's COVID-19 Crisis Is the...
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April 22, 2021 • 36 mins
The pandemic has led to “hygiene theater,” which gives a false sense of security. As vaccination continues, people should feel able to abandon many precautions—while continuing to focus on what really matters. How do we thread the needle between being too cautious and too cavalier? Staff writer Derek Thompson joins to help us understand public messaging.
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April 15, 2021 • 37 mins
Should the ‘pause’ in Johnson & Johnson vaccine worry us? Also, Jim got his first shot! But with so many people experiencing strong reactions to their second doses, what should he — and maybe you — expect?
Atlantic staff writer Katherine Wu joins to explain (and stays to talk cicadas!)
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April 8, 2021 • 35 mins
Children may have been largely spared the worst of COVID-19, but many kids have still gotten seriously ill and died. Despite promising news this week, most likely won’t have access to the vaccines for months. So as adults get vaccinated, how high are the stakes for kids? And how high are the stakes for everyone waiting on herd immunity?
Jim and Maeve ask Dr. Jill Foster, a professor and pediatric-infectious-disease specialist at th...
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April 1, 2021 • 40 mins
Vaccine passports are almost certainly in our near future. But what are they exactly? And with concerns about vaccine equity now complicated by partisan fearmongering, how should they be implemented?
Art Caplan, a bioethicist with NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine who’s spent years thinking about vaccine ethics, joins Jim and Maeve to explain.
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March 25, 2021 • 41 mins
The recent shootings in Atlanta highlighted a surge of anti-Asian violence in the United States throughout the pandemic. Disease stigma and racism have together shaped pandemic response and policy for centuries.
And so to better understand this history, Jim and Maeve speak with Alexandre White, a sociologist and medical historian at Johns Hopkins University. He shares his views on how a legacy of prejudice tied to disease should le...
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March 18, 2021 • 39 mins
Jim and Maeve answer listener vaccine questions and are joined by Alexis Madrigal, who explains the apparent plateau in cases (and why he’s begun to worry despite his longer-term optimism). With the COVID Tracking Project winding down, Madrigal also offers insight about where to get the best data.
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March 11, 2021 • 43 mins
Jim and Katherine look back on a year of this pandemic podcast to what we’ve learned, what we haven’t, and what we can look forward to. (Also, Jim talks with Anthony Fauci!)
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March 4, 2021 • 40 mins
With three vaccines now approved and news that the U.S. will have enough shots for every adult by the end of May, it feels like the country is turning a corner. But, even after getting vaccinated, Americans still have to mask and distance. Why is that? Can you still spread it? And with lots of efficacy numbers out there, is one vaccine ‘better’ than another?
James Hamblin and Maeve Higgins ask virologist Angela Rasmussen.
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February 25, 2021 • 33 mins
Listeners with mild COVID-19 cases call with their questions. Jim explains why he thinks the summer could be wonderful. And Maeve shares nun news from Ireland.
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February 18, 2021 • 39 mins
Nearly a year ago, The Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis predicted the pandemic would be “a disaster for feminism” and far too many of her predictions have proven true. With women leaving the workforce at unprecedented rates, why has the pandemic’s burden fallen so much harder on them? And what can we, as a society, do about it?
Also: Jim and Maeve answer listener questions about the virus (and discuss chickens).
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February 12, 2021 • 39 mins
Vaccines are a public good. And if we don’t make a lot more of them, COVID-19 may never really go away.
Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiology professor at Yale’s School of Public Health who joined the show in May to talk about his career as an AIDS activist, explains to Jim and Maeve how our moral failure to help vaccinate the rest of the world may come back to haunt us — and what big steps we’d need to take to prevent that.
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