With the COVID-19 pandemic, Atlanta’s Sanjay Gupta is a ubiquitous presence on CNN

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Originally posted Wednesday, March 25, 2020 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Even when there is no pandemic happening, Atlanta-based CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta is normally a super busy man.

But lately, he has truly become the King of Ubiquitous, a mainstay on almost all the major CNN programs every day.

On Tuesday, March 24, I  caught him on shows hosted by Jake Tapper, Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon. He was probably on others as well.

This month, he has co-hosted a “Coronavirus: Fact or Fiction” town hall every Thursday at 10 p.m. with Cooper. Gupta also launched a daily podcast on the subject less than a month ago. It has since rocketed to the fifth most popular podcast on the Apple charts.

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Gupta is one of the best known doctors in America this side of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz.

When he’s not on TV, the 50-year-old Michigan native is an Emory professor and a practicing neurosurgeon at Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory University Hospital.

He joined CNN in 2001 and has been a frequent commentator and host over various past pandemics and disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquakes.

The COVID-19 virus might be his biggest test yet as a broadcast journalist.

How is CNN management helping prevent him from getting over worked and possibly getting sick himself?  I have reached out to CNN publicity but have not received a substantive on-the-record comment yet. I understand that everyone there is a wee bit busy. Though I have interviewed Gupta on occasion and met him a few times at events over the years, I do not have a direct contact.

So this isn’t much of a story beyond me saying that he is everywhere on CNN and I expect that to remain the case for many months ahead. I hope to write a long, deep profile on the man at some point soon.

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