The threat of COVID-19 presents a new challenge for citizens of many countries who are not used to government entities directing their behavior. It’s also an ideological shift for many: Change your individual behavior for the good of the greater community.

Monica Malta, an alumna of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School, is a social epidemiologist and a global health researcher at the University of Toronto. She examines how responses at local, national, and regional levels—along with individual and community behavioral changes—can change the pace of an outbreak. Malta talks to Stephanie Desmon of the Center for Communication Programs about effective response strategies, why the outbreak looked so different in Italy and Japan despite both countries having aging populations, and what the US and Canada can do to prepare for an uptick in cases.