A Virus Podcast Goes Viral
In the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a relatively obscure virology podcast called “This Week in Virology” suddenly gained thousands of new listeners. Listeners from all walks of life — from mailmen to English teachers — were writing in with all sorts of questions, some of them scientific, some of them highly personal. For many listeners, the effect of the show was therapeutic: they reported that the show’s reasoned tone (and frequent outbursts of laughter) had a calming effect on them. Here’s the story of how a quirky virus podcast went viral during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The TWiV team recording episode 600.
On episode 614, the TWiV team reacts to the podcast I made about them: