The a16z Podcast discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future – especially as ‘software eats the world’. It features industry experts, business leaders, and other interesting thinkers and voices from around the world. This podcast is produced by Andreessen Horowitz (aka “a16z”), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. Multiple episodes are released every week; visit a16z.com for more details and to sign up for our newsletters and other content as well!
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episode 522: Novel Coronavirus Updates: How Healthcare System, Tests Work; More
This episode covers the following -- since our previous deep-dive on the novel coronavirus outbreak -- including:
- practical implications for the U.S. healthcare system given how it works today, and where we might go in the future — with a16z general partner Julie Yoo, given our vantage point in tech; and
- how the rt-PCR test works — with a16z bio partner Judy Savitskaya;
…in conversation with Sonal Chokshi.
Sources for updates at top:
- CDC's latest briefing February 26, 2020, transcript
- WHO situation report #27 February 25, 2020 [we covered #6 and #25 on previous episodes]
Sources for last week's episode:
- latest numbers: cases in the U.S. (CDC, as of February 17, 2020); global cases (WHO situation report #25, February 14, 2020); spike in diagnosing cases as reported in China (SCMP, Scott Gottlieb)
- situation & policy statements/reports: CDC summary (as of February 14, 2020); “Annual report on global preparedness for health emergencies”, WHO (Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, 2019)
- on definitions (of pandemics, endemics), other terms, and various naming conventions: “Understanding pandemics: What they mean, what they don’t mean, and what comes next with the coronavirus”, Helen Branswell, StatNews (February 12, 2020); on disease occurrence and levels (CDC); “misinfodemic“; best practices on naming new human infectious diseases (WHO); qPCR (Keith Robison)
image: CDC test kit for COVID-19/ Wikimedia Commons