It’s a rough time for people who worry about infectious diseases. A new study shows bird flu is more widespread in U.S. cows than previously thought. Around 250 Americans have been infected with measles, including two people who died. And globally, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is struggling to contain a Mpox outbreak, Uganda is battling Ebola, Tanzania is fighting Marburg, and Lassa fever is spreading in East Africa. In the face of all that, the Trump administration has gutted funding for programs that help protect Americans from these types of diseases. Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at UCLA and director of the Center for Global and Immigrant Health, talks about what’s worrying her.

And in headlines: Senate Democrats said they’ll vote against a House bill to keep the government open past Friday, new government data showed egg prices hit another record last month, and President Donald Trump hosted the Irish Prime at the White House amid a growing trade war with the European Union.

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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Thursday, March 13th. I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show that is celebrating the return of March Madness by getting very stressed out about sports while definitely not watching sports at work, a thing you should also definitely not do. Nope, no sports at work. [music break] On today’s show, Senate Democrats have their own solution to keep the government open. And President Donald Trump complains about former president’s policies to the prime minister of Ireland. But let’s start with bird flu, which has sickened dozens of people in the U .S. as it continues to spread among animals. And measles, as new cases keep showing up. Fun. 

[clip of unnamed news reporter 1] The Department of Agriculture says eggs are about double the price from January of 2024. An ongoing bird flu outbreak is blamed as the main culprit. 

[clip of unnamed news reporter 2] This morning, new numbers show the measles virus spreading like wildfire. Texas, the center of the worst outbreak, now up to 223 cases, nearly double that from last month. In nearby New Mexico, 33 cases, more than triple the number from last week. 

Jane Coaston: Earlier this week, a new study found that bird flu is way more prevalent in cows than we thought, increasing the likelihood that the virus could spread to people, and then from humans to humans. And measles continues to spread across a swath of the country, with new cases in Maryland and New Jersey. If only we had a super -on-the-ball, very-with-it Secretary of Health and Human Services to reassure the public about bird flu while encouraging vaccination against measles, the best way to stop the spread of the disease. Unfortunately, we have Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., here in conversation with Fox News’ Sean Hannity at a Steak and Shake earlier this week. 

[clip of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] When you and I were kids, everybody got measles, and the measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection. The vaccine doesn’t do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but many people it wanes. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that’s not true. Most people who have been vaccinated against measles are good to go for life. Also, measles can kill, and already has, with the first deaths in more than a decade taking place over the last two weeks. Don’t get measles, because you don’t have to. So to learn more about measles and bird flu, and to talk about the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to break the global health system, we spoke with Professor Anne Rimoin. She’s an epidemiology professor at UCLA and director of the Center for Global and Immigrant Health. Professor Rimoin, welcome to What a Day. 

Anne Rimoin: Nice to be here. Thanks for having me. 

Jane Coaston: Let’s start with bird flu. A new report shows that the disease is more widespread in cows than previously thought. That doesn’t sound good. What risk does that pose for humans? 

Anne Rimoin: Well, you know, it’s it’s an important study because it really demonstrates that this is, as you said, much more widespread than we originally had anticipated. But the thing is, is the risk is if there are more infections in cattle, then people who interact with those cattle are going to be more likely to uh come in contact with the virus, potentially get sick. And that is where we we see a big problem for avian influenza in general. Most of the cases of avian influenza to date have been in people who are in direct contact with animals, whether it’s cows, whether it’s birds, like the backyard flocks. But if somebody actually has seasonal influenza at the same time, that presents a really important opportunity for somebody to be infected with both avian influenza and a seasonal influenza and then you have this kind of recombination where the virus is able to swap genes and you may end up with something that’s more contagious, more easily spread and that’s what puts us at risk for a pandemic, which is what we really want to avoid. 

Jane Coaston: That is terrifying, and we just passed the five-year anniversary of COVID -19 being declared a pandemic. We have not seen human-to-human transmission of bird flu, but what work is being done to prevent the disease from becoming an epidemic in the U.S. or worse, the next pandemic? 

Anne Rimoin: Well, there are a lot of things that need to be done, right? It’s the key is situational awareness. So if you know what’s happening on the ground, then you can get in front of it. And if you can get in front of it, your that’s your best chance of being able to avoid a future pandemic. Now, some of the other things that are are being considered now are vaccinating some of the um vaccinating chickens, which is a smart idea to be able to get in front of it. Because if you limit the virus in the the livestock that are able to spread it easily to people, then you’re going to have less of an opportunity to spread to humans. So I think anything that we can do around the margins is important. And this falls into the category of what I always say, which it is much easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble. Never more true than when you’re talking about pathogens. 

Jane Coaston: Right. And regrettably, that does not seem to be the approach that the US is taking right now, because we’re also seeing a measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico that’s spreading. What needs to happen to get us out of trouble with this outbreak? 

Anne Rimoin: Well, probably under the category to getting out us out of trouble versus staying out of trouble. Listen, I mean actually there’s still a lot of staying out of trouble for many, many people. So measles is the most contagious virus that we know of. And that’s also because it is a virus that is spread through the air. It’s um it’s airborne and the virus particles can hang out for a very long time in a room after somebody who is infected has left. And complicating this is that people, before they develop this characteristic rash, before they know they actually have measles, they’re contagious for several days before that time. And you know we saw this kind of thing with COVID. So the concept is is similar, but now we’re talking about a virus that is more contagious than COVID. So what can you do to avoid it? Well, you can get vaccinated. That is our number one opportunity for stopping spread of measles is to have a highly vaccinated population. And so when you when you talk about highly vaccinated populations, well, what does that mean? Well, for measles, you need 95 % of the population vaccinated to really stop it in its tracks, to stop it from spreading further. So this vaccine is up to 97 % effective in preventing infection, and that’s that’s really, really critical here. And so uh when you have pockets of the population that are unvaccinated or under vaccinated, that just gives it this wide runway to to spread. And now you know, unfortunately we’ve seen the consequences. You know the vast majority of people will survive measles infection, but people who are very young, people that are immunocompromised, you know it can be deadly. And um you know we’ve already seen that happen. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. And this is all the more worrying because since the pandemic, fewer children who are especially vulnerable have been getting their routine vaccinations. Parents are opting out. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been um, how to put this, less than emphatic when telling people to get vaccinated. How does that make this measles outbreak all the more dangerous? 

Anne Rimoin: Well it makes it very dangerous because uh you know you need to have people giving good information and giving information that is strongly worded and and to have any kind of doubt sown in in the system, it does make it complicated. So you know I think that the the more people that really do recommend vaccination and explain why vaccination is so important, the better off we are. 

Jane Coaston: As a person who cares about this issue, should I be getting a booster for measles? Who should be getting boosters and who should not be? 

Anne Rimoin: Well, people who should get a booster, if they have not had one already, are people that were born between 1957 and 1968. Um. At that point, uh individuals who were getting a measles vaccine, it just wasn’t as effective. And then people who were born between 1968 and 1989, the recommendation was just to get one dose. And uh now we have we know that a recommendation is to get two doses for uh optimal protection. So those are the current recommendations. And what I would suggest to anybody who is you know wondering where do I fall? Is it something I should do? They should talk to their doctor. 

Jane Coaston: I want to broaden this conversation out a little bit because I want to talk about public health more broadly. Your background is in emerging infectious diseases like Ebola and MPOX. 

Anne Rimoin: Mm hmm. 

Jane Coaston: What are you hearing from the people you work with about how the federal government’s cuts to USAID and the CDC and the attempts to cut federal grant funding to universities are impacting their work in this field? Because you’re kind of in the thick of it from both ends.

Anne Rimoin: Well, global health funding has always been um meager at best, in particular for emerging infectious diseases. So you know it’s putting tension on fabric that’s already stretched very thin. In general, our national security is linked to to global security, and that’s very true when it comes to global health. And with fewer programs in place, we have less situational awareness, and situational awareness is key. What we’ve learned from the pandemic is that rapid action matters. I think, you know, there have been certainly effects in places like DRC when it comes to MPOC’s response. I, you know, I understand, too, in places like Uganda, that that Ebola response, um you know, where we have an active outbreak is certainly affected. Now, one of the things I think about is I think, you know, in a place like DRC, the Kinshasa School of Public Health, which trains local health professionals. you know that school is the the the centerpiece of training for the country and I know that they are heavily funded by USAID and so if you can’t train local people on the ground to be able to do this kind of work you know we really are going to to lose capacity and it means that there is going to be more opportunities for viruses and you know other things to to happen on the ground that we’re not aware of and we’re not gonna be able to get in front of it 

Jane Coaston: For more than two decades, you’ve been working in the Democratic Republic of Congo and you founded a research and training center there. Has that been hit by funding cuts? 

Anne Rimoin: Well, you know, I mean, I think everything is, is affected in in one way or the other. Um. The work that we do with the Kinshasa School of Public Health and the National Laboratory at present is still ongoing, but, you know, we are all, you know, waiting to see how things go and, and, you know, what is going to be sustainable, what isn’t. 

Jane Coaston: You’ve mentioned this a little bit, but there are a number of outbreaks happening around the world right now. Bird flu and measles here. You mentioned an Mpox outbreak in the DRC and an Ebola outbreak in Uganda. There is Marburg in Tanzania, Lassa fever in East Africa. It’s a lot. What’s worrying you most right now? 

Anne Rimoin: I worry most about the overall system of disease surveillance and the ability for us locally, nationally, and globally to be able to react in a coordinated manner and in an effective and efficient manner, you know, should we see another pandemic. That’s my biggest concern of all is how this kind of global coordination and collaboration is going to continue when funding is stretched thinner than it already is for these kinds of things. 

Jane Coaston: Professor Rimoin, thank you so much for joining me today. 

Anne Rimoin: It’s my pleasure. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Professor Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at UCLA and director of the Center for Global and Immigrant Health. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines.

[clip of Chuck Schumer] Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. 

Jane Coaston: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will not vote for a House -approved spending bill to avert a government shutdown on Friday. Dems are leveraging their power in the chamber to block the bill, knowing that it likely needs the support of at least eight Democrats to pass. Schumer announced his party’s position on the floor Wednesday. 

[clip of Chuck Schumer] Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input from Congressional Democrats. 

Jane Coaston: House Republicans passed the legislation Tuesday, sending it to the Senate for a vote. The bill, which boosts funding for defense while cutting billions in other spending, would fund the government through September. But it grants no concessions to Democrats who want to make sure Trump and billionaire Elon Musk don’t keep gutting funding for programs that Congress approved. Instead, Senate Democrats want Congress to pass a stopgap measure to keep the government open for 30 days while both parties negotiate a long -term deal. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Look, the EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States. 

[clip of Micheál Martin] Including Ireland? Is Ireland taking advantage of the US? 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Of course they are. I can you know I have great respect for Ireland and what they did. And they should have done just what they did, but the United States shouldn’t have let it happen. We had stupid leaders. We had leaders that didn’t have a clue. Or let’s say they weren’t business people, but they didn’t have a clue what was happening. 

Jane Coaston: What? President Trump was his usual self while hosting Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin at the White House Wednesday. The annual meeting comes ahead of St. Patrick’s Day. Lucky us. Trump welcomed Martin to the Oval Office with this backhanded compliment. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I give, look, the Irish are smart, you’re a smart people and you took our pharmaceutical companies and other companies, but you know, through taxation and proper taxation. 

Jane Coaston: More than 90 pharmaceutical companies operate in Ireland and not just American companies. According to a leading non-partisan tax policy non-profit, Ireland has a low corporate tax rate of 12.5%. U .S. companies like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol Meyer sSquibb operate or have locations in Ireland. And Trump sure as hell isn’t happy about it. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] When the pharmaceutical companies started to go to Ireland, I would have said, that’s okay if you want to go to Ireland. I think it’s great. But if you want to sell anything into the United States, I’m going to put a 200 % tariff on you. So you’re never going to be able to sell anything into the United States. You know what they would have done? They would have stayed here. 

Jane Coaston: 200% tariffs? According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U .S. imported more than $13 billion in goods from Ireland in January. The U.S. exported just about $1 billion in products to the country. So is that why he’s so mad? 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I don’t know if you saw a little thing like the cost of eggs. Little to you, but big to people out there. Down almost 30 % in the last few days, we got it down. 

Jane Coaston: OK, well, let’s talk about those eggs you clearly haven’t purchased since, like, 1987, President Trump. The government’s latest consumer price index data released Wednesday shows the cost of a dozen eggs increased more than 10% last month. The average price now sits at just shy of $6, topping January’s record of close to $5. The high prices are primarily driven by the ongoing bird flu outbreak, which we about earlier in the show. The USDA said last week that some reprieve could be on the way because egg shortages were starting to ease up, in part because people stopped buying them. In good news, if there is any, the same government data did show that overall inflation cooled a bit last month. But as Trump continues to implement, and then back off, then re -up his quote, “beautiful tariffs,” economists worry his plans could upend efforts to rein in inflation long-term. Is that stopping the president? No. On Wednesday, Trump increased tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%. The European Union and Canada quickly retaliated with their own tariffs on US goods like bourbon and motorcycles. After months of hinting at a run, former California representative Katie Porter has officially entered the race for governor. Porter made the announcement Tuesday morning. 

[clip of Katie Porter] What California needs now is a little bit of hope and a whole lot of grit. Fresh blood and new ideas and leaders with the backbone to fight for what’s right. That’s why I’m running for governor. 

Jane Coaston: Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett sat down with Congresswoman Porter to talk about why she is running in what is already a crowded field, her thoughts on how Democrats are handling Trump, and what she’ll do if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to enter the race later this year. 

[clip of Katie Porter] I’m not waiting around, and I don’t think voters are waiting around. 

[clip of Jon Lovett] Well, I’m–

[clip of Katie Porter] They want to know how we’re going to lead. They want to make plans for what we’re going to do with regard to Trump. And so I think there’s a hunger for people to lead in this moment and I’m stepping up. 

Jane Coaston: You can listen to Lovett’s interview with representative Katie Porter, Friday on Pod Save America. And that’s the news. [music break] One more thing. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed lately, but the economy is having a not very good time right now. There’s been a major reaction to the on-again, off-again tariffs against some of our closest trading partners that have made the stock market and investors extremely anxious. And coupled with less than great hiring data, there are real concerns about the potential for a recession. But in response to this, the very real worries of many people about the economy, their investments, their jobs and their futures, the response from a section of the American right has been, suck it up bitches. Here’s Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville on Fox News Wednesday. 

[clip of Senator Tommy Tuberville] No pain, no gain. That’s what we used to tell our football players. There’s gonna be some pain with tariffs. 

Jane Coaston: I’d like to note here that Tommy Tuberville’s last season as a college football coach ended with a four and eight record, which sounds like pain enough for Cincinnati fans. But you’ve gotta suffer just wasn’t a good enough message for some on the right. In fact, some of President Trump’s biggest fans, like frequent Fox News commentator Batya Ungar Sargan, think that actually you should be grateful for Donald Trump and Elon Musk doing their best to wreck both the federal government and the economy for reasons. Because we’re building a new economy. Made out of love. Here she is on Fox News Sunday. 

[clip of Batya Ungar-Sargon] I cannot get over the chutzpah of these business leaders sitting there whining about their quarterly reports while President Trump teaches them how to build an economy based on love of country and love of your neighbor. We should be listening and watching and saying thank you rather than whining and moaning. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, thank you. And Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, said on Fox News on Monday that Americans should do way more than say thank you. Like, way more. 

[clip of Lara Trump] People ought to be kissing the feet of Elon Musk and Donald Trump for being the two people to actually do this. 

Jane Coaston: Ew. This is bonkers. Yes, very gross, cultish and baffling, but also bonkers. See, before about, oh, a month ago, President Donald Trump loved the stock market. He used to talk about it all the time. And even in October 2024, he was claiming that any improvement in the economy under President Joe Biden must actually be about Trump. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Some of the best people on Wall Street are saying the economy is only good because they think, I don’t want to say this because other people have said it, that’s not me saying it, but they think Trump is going to get elected. That’s the only reason our economy is good. That’s the only reason the stock market is up. 

Jane Coaston: But now, as the stock market is definitely not up, suddenly the stock market just doesn’t matter anymore. Now, the new meme on the MAGA right is that plunging America into economic uncertainty is cool and good, as are plunging markets. A Newsmax host tweeted Monday, quote, “the Dow is plunging. This is happening because we have a president with the balls to undo a globalist economic agenda that’s decimated American wages and quality of life. This is the pain that comes from real change.” No, no it isn’t. This is pain for absolutely no reason. This is pain caused by a president turning tariffs on and off and on and off, with his reasoning varying from something something fentanyl to Canada should be a state, which would be reason enough for me to be slowly losing my mind.  But this? A catawalling bunch of Trump family members and MAGA influencers trying to tell Americans that actually their shrinking retirement accounts are good because we’re going to rebuild factories that the MAGA influencers would rather go to a Joe Biden we miss you rally than work in? That might be what finally does it. [music break]. 

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Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, go watch the documentary No Other Land even if the mayor of Miami Beach tells you not to, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how the mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Meiner,, is trying to terminate the lease of a movie theater because it is screening an Oscar-winning documentary that he doesn’t like, like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston and let people watch documentaries. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Fohr. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. 

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