Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction

We usually have to wait days to get the results from our nose-swab PCR tests, and meanwhile, we might be spreading the virus without even knowing it. What if instead we could all be tested twice a week and know the results in just minutes? CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with Harvard epidemiologist Dr. Michael Mina about the game-changing potential of affordable at-home rapid testing. 

One in three LA County residents have tested positive for the virus and hospitals are struggling to treat everyone who needs critical care. CNN Correspondent Sara Sidner has been covering the devastation for months. Today she has a frank conversation with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta about why things have gotten so bad and how difficult it's been to report on the front lines of this crisis.

As human activity ventures further into the wilderness, scientists believe more diseases will emerge. CNN Senior International Correspondent Sam Kiley takes Sanjay on a journey deep into the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the hunt for the next pandemic pathogen continues. 

For a lot of children, the pandemic has been an unsettling time.  Socializing is limited, school is not the same, and parents are often stressed out themselves. CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks with psychologist and best-selling author Lisa Damour about what children want and need right now.

Some people call the mental and emotional stress that healthcare workers have faced this past year ‘burnout.’ But burnout existed in the industry long before Covid-19. So what do you call something that’s more exhausting and enduring than that? Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with emergency physician Dr. Megan Ranney and psychiatrist Dr. Jessi Gold about the mental health effects of their jobs.

A lot of people have been feeling stressed out by this pandemic, and unfortunately, it’s been that way for a while now, but what is this unrelenting stress doing to our brains? CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with Stanford University neuroscientist Prof. Robert Sapolsky about the potentially damaging effects of chronic stress on the human brain, and what we can do to help.

What’s the latest news about vaccines, and what are the delays with the rollout? In this episode, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta answers listener questions about the distribution process and post-vaccination transmission. 

Imagine a country that is not under a strict lockdown or scrambling to find hospital beds to care for Covid patients; where people regularly dine and drink inside. This country exists –it’s Singapore. One of our associate producers, Emily Liu, makes the trip back home, to a place where life feels almost normal again. 

New variants of the coronavirus are circulating around the globe and causing some concern among experts. One in particular, variant B.1.1.7, has been found to more easily spread from one person to another.  This new variant has already been identified in several states in the US. To understand how this will affect the course of the pandemic, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with virologist Angela Rasmussen.  

Vaccine distribution in the U.S. is going to rely on local pharmacies and supermarkets, but what if your neighborhood doesn’t have either? CNN's Omar Jimenez takes a closer look at "pharmacy deserts" and the impact they can have on communities trying to access the coronavirus vaccine.