STAT+ Conversations: A discussion with Dr. Ashish Jha

Editor’s note: A recording of the conversation is embedded below. 

“We may be done with a pandemic, but the pandemic is not done with us,” said Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Jha sat down with STAT’s senior writer for infectious disease, Helen Branswell, to discuss the reality of Covid-19. He warned: “The reality is this virus is with us.” People might want it to go away, but that doesn’t mean it will. “It’s almost like Groundhog Day. We’re going to have to live the same story over and over.”

Their conversation touched on masks (he’s come to believe in them) and how to reopen schools (people are “way underestimating the risks”), as well as new data on the steroid dexamethasone, which seemed to improve survival in one study. Jha said he was excited, but said “all of the excitement is based on what I’ve seen in a one page press release.” Watch the whole interview above.