In this podcast, AJPH attempts to answer three questions: How effective has the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic been? Were the major but localized crises of Katrina and Flint harbingers of the generalized COVID-19 crisis? What did we learn from them to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic and what did we miss? Third, did CDC play the role the public, the states, and scientists were expecting from it? Guests are Joe Kanter (Louisiana Department of Health), Bob Kim-Farley (UCLA and AJPH), and Wendy Parmet (Northeastern and AJPH).