A Doctor Who Helped Eradicate Smallpox Talks About COVID-19
Dr. Larry Brilliant is a leading epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox. In this video, Brilliant discusses how we need to continue to behave as a society if we want to help flatten the curve and beat COVID-19.
Carolyn Warsham
Welcome to another edition of B-Well, a 30-minute webinar series, highlighting tips, resources, and coping skills from leading wellbeing experts to support you and your families.
Prior episodes featured Thrive Global founder Arianna Huffington, renowned Buddhist meditation practitioner and author Jack Kornfield, award-winning comedian Trevor Noah, and pioneering psychiatrist Kim Norman. Today we talk with Dr. Larry Brilliant, a leading epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox, a technologist, philanthropist, and author — not to mention one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
Brilliant discusses how we need to continue to behave as a society if we want to help flatten the curve and ultimately beat COVID-19. He explains how the virus can grow exponentially, but that we can lower that number through continued social distancing and wearing masks when going to grocery stores and pharmacies for essential items. Brilliant believes we likely will experience spikes and that a cure will not arrive by this summer. On a brighter note, he assures we will find a vaccine, but that it’s not right around the corner.
“That doesn’t mean the world won’t come back to normal before then,” Brilliant says. “We deal with dangers all the time and we’re a resilient species. There will be love in the time of COVID, but it will take a little while yet.”
Want to know if you should wipe down your groceries or when it will be safe enough for people to start going back to work or school? In the video below, Brilliant addresses that in addition to the “magic medicine” we all can use.
The B-Well series is part of a larger Leading Through Change initiative, providing thought leadership, tips, and resources to help business leaders manage through crises. Check out some of our most recent articles:
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