On this bonus episode of The COVID Pod with Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, Dr. Jha provides advice for managing COVID-19 over Thanksgiving.

Vivian Van ’21 rests in her official dark-blue Emergency Medical Services uniform, which matches the sky in the backdrop of the window behind her. It’s past midnight, but she’ll be ready to respond if there is an emergency call. The clock ticks onward, pushing into her 12-hour shift. 

This year, BEMS adapted to COVID-19 by training all incoming staff for free over the fall semester through a virtual academy.

Dr. Ashish Jha discusses the aftermath of the 2020 Election and President-Elect Joe Biden’s announcement of a COVID-19 Task Force. Dr. Jha also walks us through news from Pfizer that the company may have a highly effective vaccine in the development.

Gov. Gina Raimondo announced adjustments to Rhode Island’s Phase 3 public health guidelines Thursday, which will begin Nov. 8 and last at least two weeks as a precautionary measure against the continuing climb in COVId-19 cases. Rhode Island saw 566 positive COVID-19 test results Nov. 4.

On the eve of Halloween, Dr. Ashish Jha joins The Herald’s COVID Pod team to discuss the implications of the Nov. 3 presidential election and how to safely exercise the right to vote. Dr. Jha also touches on the lockdowns occurring in multiple European countries and what that means for the United States.

In the inaugural episode of “The COVID Pod with Ashish Jha,” The Brown Daily Herald’s Editor-in-Chief Colleen Cronin ’21 joins Dean of the School of Public Health Ashish Jha to discuss the national news surrounding ongoing vaccine trials, President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the risk of group gatherings.

The University is set to transition into Campus Activity Status Level two Monday, lifting some restrictions on mask wearing and in-person learning and gathering, according to a community email from Executive Vice President of Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91.

Picture thousands of undergraduate students unpacking their bags at an isolated Brown University campus free from outside contact amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In this simplified scenario, a certain number of these students are carrying stowaway SARS-CoV-2 particles.

The numbers, labels and descriptions pertaining to medical patients and COVID-19 cases that are housed in electronic health records may seem to be nothing more than a track record — a jumble of information a physician updates, typing away as their patient sits down for a visit.