Coronavirus Pandemic in New York: An Interview with Dr. Wilson Wang Ep 69

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

I’m pleased to welcome Dr. Wilson Wang back on to Talking Taiwan after five years for what turned out to be a very in-depth conversation, about the Coronavirus crisis in New York. Dr. Wang spoke with me about the COVID-19 pandemic from both a science-based and human perspective. This interview with Dr. Wang was recorded last week on March 30^th, 2020.

Dr. Wilson Wang is the Founder and CEO of a health software company called Walking Doctors, a pediatric emergency room physician and hospitalist at NYU and NYC Public Hospital system, and adjunct faculty of Global Public Health at NYU.

UPDATE: On April 3, 2020, the CDC published new recommendations to use cloth face coverings, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover.html

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this episode:

• How Dr. Wang and his family are dealing with COVID-19
• How Dr. Wang’s experience with Ebola led to establishing Walking Doctors
• The importance of standardizing diagnosis and treatment of disease
• Comparing the Ebola outbreak with COVID-19
• Epidemics vs. pandemics
• The SARS 2003 epidemic
• The strategies that Taiwan used to contain the spread of COVID-19
• Development of a test for COVID-19
• Is the Coronavirus airborne and how long does it survive in the air?
• How long does the Coronavirus survive on surfaces?
• Comparing measles with the Coronavirus
• Dr. Wang’s recommendations on whether or not to wear a mask
• Why it’s important to adhere to social distancing and self-isolation
• Possible treatments for COVID-19
• The ventilator shortage
• Which is our best hope a vaccine or cure?
• General advice to people trying to stay healthy and deal with social distancing and self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Related Links:

Dr. Wang’s blog: http://wilson-wang.squarespace.com/

JAMA Article:

Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan

Big Data Analytics, New Technology, and Proactive Testing: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689

Dr. Wang on social media:

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/wilson-wang-9289554

Twitter: @walkingdoctors

Walking Doctors: https://walkingdocs.com/

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Map: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html