North Carolina’s resistance to pandemic is not uniform. The Triangle and Charlotte each host an international airport and research hospitals; March Madness brings crowds to Greensboro; Wilmington receives cargo and personnel from overseas; and Asheville entertains tourists from around the world. Socioeconomic vulnerability also contributes to the spread.
Joining host Frank Stasio to survey the state's landscape of vulnerability is , an adjunct professor of global health at Duke University and former director of essential drugs and medicines policy at the World Health Organization. takes a critical look at how narratives of fear distract the public from an underlying cause of global outbreaks — namely poverty and weak healthcare systems. Wald is a professor of English at Duke and the author of “” (Duke University Press/2008).