On Point

Native American communities have been hit hard by the pandemic. We hear how they’re responding.

Guests

Dr. Michelle Tom, family practice physician currently working in two small ERs in Winslow, Arizona. She serves the entire southern region of Navajo Nation (roughly 17,000 people). (@drmichelletom)

This program originally aired on April 9, 2020. 

“The Good Place” creator Michael Schur joins us to talk about morals and being good during a global pandemic.

We look at what’s fair and foul in Major League Baseball’s proposal to return to the field this summer amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Guests

Jeff Passan, senior MLB Insider for ESPN. (@JeffPassan)

17 years ago, the world was facing a different mysterious, viral respiratory disease. Dr. Ali Khan tells us what we should have learned from SARS.

Parents are expected to get back to work — and they want to — but how can they do it without the child care they rely on? Can an economy fully recover without robust child care?

The class of 2020 is stepping out into an utterly transformed world. We talk with grads about their hopes and fears as they try to launch their lives and careers.

Guests

Jonathan Yubi Gomez, he is graduating from Lehman College later this month with a BFA in Fine Arts. (@JonathanYubi)

We check in on China's massive testing campaign in Wuhan, Beijing's efforts to reopen its economy and the impact of another low point in U.S.-China relations.

Guests

Brenda Goh, Reuters chief correspondent in Shanghai. (@brendagoh_)

What gives art meaning? What impact does physical distancing have on our consumption and appreciation of art, both performance and visual?

Guests

Helen Molesworth, curator-in-residence at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Former chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. (@AndersonRanch)

This program originally aired on March 24, 2020. 

It’s been more than 100 years since all of humanity has had to respond to a global pandemic on the scale of coronavirus. We’ll take a deep look at the origins, responses and lessons of the flu pandemic of 1918.

Can pandemic literature serve as a tool to understand this pandemic? Authors Tom Perrotta, Geraldine Brooks and Lawrence Wright tell us what they think.

Guests

Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist. Her bestselling novel “Year of Wonders” draws on the history of the bubonic plague in rural England. (@GeraldineBrooks)

We check in with several states that are moving forward with reopening. How have businesses adapted? Are people going back to work? And what’s happened to infection rates?

Guests

Rose Scott, host of “Closer Look with Rose Scott” on WABE, an NPR station in Atlanta. (@waberosescott)

Handwashing can help kill the coronavirus. But you may be surprised by how short the history of handwashing actually is among humans.

Guests

Miryam Wahrman, professor of biology at William Paterson University. Author of “The Hand Book: Surviving in a Germ-Filled World,” published in 2016. (@MiryamWahrman)

The airline industry faces its greatest crisis yet with the pandemic wiping out most travel. When will we feel safe flying again?

Phil LeBeau, CNBC reporter covering the auto and airline industry. (@Lebeaucarnews)

A new report considers evidence that possibly suggests the coronavirus was circulating outside of China as early as late last year. We talk to epidemiologists about how that changes what we know about the virus.

Guests

Bill Hanage, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and faculty member in the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (@BillHanage)

Past pandemics changed the way of life in cities around the world. We look at how city features were inspired by history’s worst disease outbreaks.

Guests

Brian Melican, journalist, author and translator. (@melican)

Does the coronavirus spell the end of the global supply chain? Some manufacturing experts say supply chains have to get shorter in order to be stronger.

Guests

Ravi Anupindi, professor of operations research and management and technology and operations; faculty director at the Center for Value Chain Innovation at the University of Michigan. (@RAnupindi)

Astronaut Christina Koch spent a record 11 months in space, the longest spaceflight of any woman. She returned to Earth in February and is just completing her NASA-mandated readjustment period. What’s life like when you leave a space station, only to be confined in your own home under lockdown?

As states across the U.S. begin to get back to business — not as usual, but in phases — we take a look at the evolving retail landscape and how people will shop in a post-pandemic world.

Guests

Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN business retail reporter. (@nmeyersohn)

What day is it again? Has it been a year since February? Or a day? We take a look at the science behind how the pandemic is warping our sense of time.

At the end of the hour, we hear from Stephen Henderson, host of “Detroit Today,” about the loss of WDET listener and caller Tom Wilson. 

When the economy slows, so does the demand for oil. Prices have plummeted and storage tanks are filled to capacity. We look at the future of the oil industry.

Contact tracing. It’s infectious disease detective work. We learn all about the techniques and technology used to track down people who’ve been exposed to the coronavirus.

Can we design cities that heal? We talk with an architect and urban planner about how to change the brick-and-mortar world for better human health.

Guests

Michael Murphy, founding principal and executive director of MASS Design Group, an architecture and design. (@MASSDesignLab)

Normally, each night of April would be filled with sporting events. But these are anything but normal times. So what are we losing — economically, physically and culturally — in a world without professional sports?

Guests

Shira Springer, WBUR sports and society reporter. Contributing writer for the Boston Globe and SportsBusiness Journal. (@ShiraSpringer)

The coronavirus pandemic has jump-started America’s innovation engine as companies, institutions and entrepreneurs step up to the challenge.

Guests

Scott Cohen, co-founder of New Lab. (@Newlab)

“Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy.”

— Søren Kierkegaard

If you’re at home more now — and doing less — does that actually feel better? We’ll talk about what the pandemic is teaching us about the endless urge to be busy.

As some places approach their third month of lockdown, we’ll check back in with a quarantine researcher about what’s working and what isn’t.

The coronavirus is affecting the most vulnerable elderly Americans. We’ll examine how nursing homes became such dangerous places for the people they’re meant to protect.

Guests

Louise Aronson, professor of geriatrics at the University of California. Author of “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life.” (@LouiseAronson)

International relations in the COVID-19 era. Could the pandemic usher in a new spirit of global cooperation … or harden international distrust?

Devastation for American small businesses. Federal relief funds ran out almost instantaneously. More may be on the way, but what can be done to save small business?

Guests

Jonny Liu, owner and founder of Mantra Coffee in Azusa, California.

At a time when the public needs information, local news is taking a major hit from the coronavirus. Can local news survive the pandemic, just when it’s needed most?

Guests

David Folkenflik, On Point co-host. NPR media correspondent. (@davidfolkenflik)