The Thing About Texas, Part 1

In the latest episode of Sacred Cows & Data Cubes -- Part one of a two-part mid-pandemic deep dive -- Jonathon Feit talks with Joseph Casciotti, battalion chief of Community Medicine at the Harris County (TX) Emergency Service District 48 Fire Department. Chief Casciotti oversees Community Paramedicine/Mobile Integrated Health, infectious disease prevention and control, and COVID-19 response (both exposure tracking and vaccinations).  No holds were barred in this frank discussion, which covers politics, misinformation, the now-very-clear consequences of raiding public health funding for years, and even the ease of documenting -- on white paper cards -- COVID-19 shots that one may or may not have actually taken. (Coming soon: Part two will explore the experience of sharing data with a state immunization registry...only to find errors in one's own vaccine record.)