Everything you ever wanted to know about the coronavirus Friends2050

The CDC Country Director based in Dhaka, Bangladesh speaks with Sohail Hasnie based in Manila, the Philippines and Sam G. Samdani based in New Jersey, USA about how to stay safe and healthy through the ongoing pandemic. COVID-19 fear is keeping people in need of treatment away from clinics. What’s more, as they try to deal with this growing pandemic, people are often faced with an “infodemic” that makes it difficult to differentiate good information from mis- and disinformation, rumors and fake news. In this uncertain environment, we at friends2050 have come to realize that everyone has a different risk tolerance. In fact, public health is all about risk perception and an understanding of risk versus reward. To elaborate on this basic fact in the context of the current pandemic and share his perspective on the situation and outlook for Bangladesh (and beyond), we invited Dr. Michael Friedman, Director, CDC Bangladesh and Captain, US Public Health Service, US Embassy, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dr. Friedman explains why we need to really understand our risk perception. The recorded conversation has been orchestrated by Sohail Hasnie whose day job is that of Principal Energy Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) based in Manila, the Philippines, and was moderated by Sam G. Samdani whose day job is that of Senior Industry Knowledge Expert at McKinsey & Company based in Summit, New Jersey, USA. Their friendship dates back to 1977 when they started their two-year boarding school journey at Dhaka Residential Model School & College for their higher secondary education in Bangladesh.Part I focuses on (almost) everything you ever wanted to know – but were afraid to ask – about how the novel coronavirus works