The coronavirus pandemic is here, and in the U.S., this is starting to get very real. We talk to people in South Korea and Italy to see what life has been like for them. And we find out what the problem was with America’s tests — are they fixed now? And now that social distancing is on everyone’s mind, do we have evidence that it will really “flatten the curve”? We speak to public health expert Prof. Josh Sharfstein, virologist Prof. Vincent Racaniello, and epidemiologist Prof. Elizabeth Radin.

UPDATE 3/17/20: An earlier version of this episode said that Hong Kong had zero deaths, but according to figures on Friday from WHO 4 people died. We've updated the episode.

Here’s a link to our transcript: https://bit.ly/2QmpJUf 

Selected references:

• A look at what’s happening in Italy: https://bit.ly/3d56AA4
• Josh’s paper on the testing debacle: https://bit.ly/2x3oT84 
• How different cities reacted to the 1918 flu pandemic: https://bit.ly/2waLYWk 

This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, Michelle Dang, Meryl Horn, Sinduja Srinivasan, and Rose Rimler. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell and Caitlin Kenney. Fact checking by Lexi Krupp. Mix and sound design by Sam Bair. Music written by Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord. A big thanks to all the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr Neeltje van Doremalen, Prof. Nigel McMillan, Prof. Jeffrey Shaman, and Prof. Stephen Morse.  

And special thanks to Salvatore Incontro, Gabriella Doob, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.