That im now joined by robert primary professor of epidemiology microbial diseases at condell school of Public Health professor hi mary its so good to talk to you thank you very much for your time well thank you for inviting me now i heard you say recently that your sounds of history leads you to believe that the United States and russia countries separated at birth and this is definitely not a new idea though theres been a number of scholars who looked into russia as this dark double american greatness but i think your idea is different you argue. They reacted very similarly to these latest and damage if so what explains such drastically death friend just numbers. I think the issue about how deaths are found in how death certificates are written explains much of that difference i come from this from my experience with with the aids epidemic. And in that situation aids deaths always seem to be undercounted in russia when you looked into it was really because peoples deaths were attributed to whatever it was the problem we call the proximate cause of death whether it was de burgh yellow says or pneumonia or our. Own immunocompromised fungal disease or viral disease that was an h i b hiv isnt the thing that was going to be killing who was going to allow all these other pathogens to come in turn immunocompromised and kill you and similar thing is happening here with coronaviruses that people are dying of pneumonia people are dying of heart complications or other organ failures and thats whats being written down as the cause of death well professor henry there is definitely a difference in how the death toll is counted and i do want to look into it from a scientific perspective but before we go there if we take all axes dacs the seas and if we actually did all of them to call the thank you very still and massive difference between russia on the one hand and the United States and the United Kingdom on the other hand what could possibly explain friends with the epidemic deaths have been concentrated in a place like the United States in many parts of the country so far has been facilities called Nursing Homes where the elderly are are out. Where the elderly live in congregate settings and once the virus enters those facilities theyre spread very rapidly in a population of the. We are very susceptible to dying in my state christian side st now 70 so doing 50 and 60 percent. Of the deaths are among people who contract easys while in Nursing Homes yes that means ease does affect the elderly more than younger people you know in the elderly and again myself so im very worried i have the luxury of staying at home a lot of other people dont even if we account for that and if we strictly compare large metropolitan areas like moscow to large metropolitan areas like new york to london and we take into account all axis deaths the season again the the difference is huge the death rate from combat 19 would be presumed to be at the around 3 percent and i think in new york it would be around 13 in london it would be around 23. 00 so is there still even if you take that into account there are still and massive difference i dont think the death rate in new york is anywhere near 13 percent but clearly you know in. The number of deaths even in new york was under was under reported for a while. Among the elderly because many of them were dying at all. And i dont think where. Far enough into the kind of epidemic. Epidemiological investigations yet to draw any conclusions in any any final and well as you say its not done that its not you know proper time to draw conclusions and yet to be seen numerous stories in American Press as well as you are numerous Public Health panels essentially accusing russia of cooking the numbers thats why im asking those questions and i dont i dont you read this if they did in one of those where you did not made that accusation per se but the general. Holland was that russia has an institutional interest in under reporting those cases what im trying to. Ask you about here is why the russia could indeed be performing batter objectively the United States i think this becomes a very silly argument about who is killing more people and not reporting it i think thats not a particularly useful way to think about this i think the thing to to look at is why both russia and the United States now stand one in 2 in the total number of cases reported and outlaws cases turn out to kill people and how those cases turn out to be reported as cold related deaths or are any irrelevant sideshow what im interested in is trying to understand why it is that in certain places certain settings like congregate settings of Nursing Homes lead to higher rates of death among the elderly and the elderly are more spread out and the n. L. Then fewer of them initially will get infected but in the end the elderly are more susceptible the average age for people in russia you know is in the fortys there are a lot of old people around but i think where were at now is that. What were seeing in russia is they dont lead epidemic compared to western europe. A delayed epidemic compared to the United States and its too early to predict where its going to go and i certainly dont have access to a sufficient amount of epidemiological information inside russia to to be asked to weigh in in an informative way why there are differences in the real indepth reporting. Understood on the shelf counting this is a longstanding question in scientific debate the socalled waste of strong problem whether everyone known to have a particular in faction should be recorded as having died from that infection even though that person happened to have lets say stage 4 cancer or the lethal condition and the russian doctors not the bureaucrats but the russian doctors with de case having said that you have to distinguish between the primary cause and the catalyst in any case that goals are recorded in the death record whats the problem with this approach im mentioning theres any problem at all i just think that in order to interpret this you have to you know you have to understand the difference i dont have a problem with that approach. What the problem the only problem with that approach is a is a Public Relations approach it does raise. Perhaps inappropriate but nevertheless it does raise. Suspicions among people who want to score political points about on the side on the other side of the ocean you mean those people on both sides of the ocean you know you know i am not i mean just that i work in russia so you know for a very long period of time and not interested in fueling any kind of divide i would not be interested in that either but thats why im i actually asking you the scientific question because the russian doctors do not take those diagnosis on the top of that i have in order to make that conclusion they have to conduct an autopsy its written into the law russia has cost more to make salmon nations also all dads reaches a different story of for example for many countries in western europe its also a different story for the United States because from what i know you know they have ale ability of postmortem examination differs from state to state dont you think that russian doctors have a reason to feel its not so clear and then at least constant that the data and isnt that actually good from a scientific point of view that they theyre coming to the Global Community of scientists with the data establishing what was the main cause of the disease and what was the at pompano accompanying cost there is no a priori reason. To think that russia is going to be any different from most of the other countries in in the region. In the more developed world in having the same in the end attributable fraction of yes once you adjust for differences in population age distribution and population density. Well thats thats an interesting point i want to talk about that a little bit later but before we go into that you highlighted one specific similarity in the russian and the american response to that pandemic and this is a delegation of the Decision Making today to trace states in the american context and the regions of russia and i heard some people call that an abdication of responsibility on the part of the federal authorities but user that the only way the only 1st national way of dealing with the conduct make in a large country where you can indeed have very different density of population in various localities and the epidemiological conditions would also be very different on the ground why should putin or trial for that matter be involved in making decisions about some tiny town be it in primordial or id ask for new haven whatever decisions about when to close down things decisions about when to. Reopen them are probably best made at a local level but not and a national. The abdication of responsibility and i was referring to as a as a disaster for both countries is the lack of attention of the federal government to giving the local regions just fish an already sufficient finances and sufficient concentration of energy necessary to respond in its identity you mean resources right i also mean. Yes it isnt both federal governments. Were catastrophic will misaligned to the size and the consequences of ignoring the pandemic in its earliest stage professor primer both governments right its in russia or in the United States are on deriding the magical expanse both of them making the necessary Resources Available to unite all them down. And i dont know i dont know what russian is but certainly the United States barrel government is not giving resources to the States States who are competing with female and federal government for masks and bridge that the president protect their requirement. Both countries and i cant speak for russia because i really dont know the situation you know the people ive talked to my colleagues in russia even though many of them are Infectious Disease doctors and people who are Infectious DiseasePublic Health people dont seem to have the answers to the questions i have been asking them but. I am so and im not going to you know. Speak beyond what im capable of knowing but i do know that our state has has not gotten a coordinated effort of the states most hardest hit here in the northeast have not gotten a coordinated effort. And yet you compare that and then their eyes are nonetheless even though russia made it made a concerted effort its you build designated call that 19 hospitals for the resources into the region compensate the doctors all across the country you say that you dont have enough information about russia and yet you make merry you know broad ranging statements that i respond the response of the 2 governments is pretty much the same i i dont. I dont see. Based on the numbers that. Russias response has been particularly affected. Yet you cannot you cannot argue with the continued increase of 10000 new diagnoses a day and suggest russia is there when ever russian has done as proven effective well professor hammer we have to take a very short break now but people back in just a few moments say to you and. Welcome to max kaiser financial survival guide. Looking forward to your pension account. Thinks this is what happens to pensions in britain delegates after driv watch kaiser report. During the vietnam war u. S. Forces also bombs in neighboring laos there was a secret war. And for years the American People did not know. How much anticipation and carry back to the country per capita of all Human History millions of unexploded bombs still in danger lives in this Small Agricultural country. Thing going to continue to happen again even today kids in laos full victim to bombs dropped decades ago because the us making amends for the tragedy in laos wont help to the people need in that little land on. Welcome back to world the part that drugs are the primary professor and it can be elegy all microbial disease this ad Reality School of Public Health. What matters is not the diagnosis what matters it is the motel its a rate speaking of which i think this is actually a very important question because im sure you would agree with neighborhoods or heimer that this is very which in these been done with we spend on it affects any given country has 2 major factors 1st is the attic this year and the need it responds nearly just 6 the provision of bad self ventilators etc and the 2nd is the preexisting condition of a nation its not called that 1000. 00 per se thats so scary its the complications caused by the by its interaction with the chronic and Metabolic Diseases and here in the United States has by far the worst record in the world of all developed countries and you cant put that exclusively on trial now youre just if youre just going to talk about death rates in the United States isnt. The middle of the pack in terms of death rates death rate of about 5 percent there are countries in europe that have far greater death rates so and i dont know what the true death rate is in russia i am not going to argue with you about how doctors assign death rays but it does seem to me that there is no reason to expect that russia should be so so much lower than any other mostly developed country with the possible exception of a different recording mechanism. But they are still there through that was true for h. I. V. And i dont see any reason to think why its any different now for covert its not i dont think its malicious i think its systemic and i think its a its a failure to recognize that a precipitating event in the deaths of lots and lots of people in russia right now is the spread of aids very serious and potentially lethal respiratory virus that is continuing to infect tens of thousands of people every day in your country professor hamer i get your point that you believe there is no reason why russia should be different on that front but there is a very interesting paper published in the lancet just recently and it suggested that by early may the worlds richest countries a content for more than 90 percent of all report that called at 900. 00 deaths where is countries in south asia in africa with far Poorer Health infrastructure and very dense populations they have witnessed so far laura my talents and despite being pretty advanced in terms of testing maybe its not so much about how good your Health Infrastructure is maybe its indeed the creaks this thing they dont know about like how with differences about age is due. Be assured. You will be very simple if your story outside of europe and United States in other developed countries is a is. A well known a well known demographic fact that you know you have many many younger people this disease is not as dangerous for younger people but age is not the only variable maybe of the complications are seen in middle age people why do they have chronic conditions like diabetes type like cardiovascular diseases cancer etc maybe mad a ball of diseases Metabolic Diseases per se is a major risk factor regardless of age and we know that in western countries the proportion of people with metabolic conditions is much higher do you think that could be a factor this is a very important why and im not trying to claim the United States is actually a monkey the increase. You know take 2 diabetes is a disease that is growing in prevalence all over the world it is not unique to western europe it is not unique to the United States its pretty common in in in the more developing countries in many parts of the world the only reason youre seeing more of it in in europe is that as the population ages the pence need to develop that those diseases increase so yes if you have an older population youre going to see a higher prevalence of those underlying another cancer register real time not time to time it is in children already come on the. Going to be type one diabetes in children is a relatively rare condition really decreasing. In older. Well professor hammer i think ribery are basing our conversation on a very different sets of data and pretty sure that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the United States and in many western countries with western lifestyle with standard and mary can dive which is based primarily on sugar and Simple Carbohydrates has a major negative impact on did Metabolic Health by extension i mean anyone can i you disregarding the site or at all i am not i know i am not i am not disagreeing with you of all im saying is in many other parts of the world once you account for the difference in age youre seeing an increase in the ada relative age of the population youre seeing increases in the same kinds of Metabolic Diseases universally. Yes but not to the same extent the rates are very narrow your question cant be the same extent the west has a as a 100 year head start on on an india and china. But theyre catching up and you go absolutely up as they continue to choose to eat you know the foods that are available. Deaths just. I guess how things are turning out so many attempts to get people to. Eat a better diet now we do know that for instance that the mediterranean diet you know is supposed to be particularly useful in preventing these Metabolic Diseases many of you know that that has not helped a place like spain and italy i want to bring you back to you know that interaction between infectious and simple and diseases because if thats the case isnt it and beat misleading to be thinking about public 9000 as streatley of virus rather than thes