In this episode we explain how regions of the human genome associated with severe COVID-19 are identified, the finding that one of these regions was inherited from Neanderthals, and prolonged SARS-CoV-2 reproduction in an immunocompromised patient.

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then we discuss Bill Foege’s letter to CDC director Robert Redfield, the false promise of herd immunity for COVID-19, secret blueprints for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials released, and neuropilin-1 as a possible entry protein for the virus.

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, we debunk the Great Barrington Declaration, and discuss smell and taste changes as early indicators of the pandemic, vascular disease and thrombosis in SARS-CoV-2 infected humans and rhesus macaques, and the ability of the swine pathogen SADS-CoV to infect human respiratory tract cells.

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then Amy joins us to discuss the 2020 Chemistry Nobel Prize for gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9, continuing circulation of poliovirus in Afghanistan, inborn errors of interferon in patients with severe COVID-19, and listener questions.

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, including a discussion of the role of vitamin D in COVID-19, Michael and Christopher explain why we have made all the wrong moves during the pandemic, evidence that the D614G amino acid change improves transmission in hamsters, and listener questions.