Omicron appears to be milder than Delta — but it’s more infectious, including to the vaccinated. What does that mean for you?

Omicron appears to be milder than Delta — but it’s more infectious, including to the vaccinated. What does that mean for you?

Rachel Gutman | 
Back in July, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky announced that COVID had become “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” an unfortunate turn ...
Lab leak vs wet market: Navigating the odds of competing COVID origin theories

Lab leak vs wet market: Navigating the odds of competing COVID origin theories

Daniel Engber | 
Those inclined to think... that the pandemic must have started from a traded wild animal share a fundamental intuition with ...
How concerned should vaccinated people be about spreading COVID?

How concerned should vaccinated people be about spreading COVID?

Yasmin Tayag | 
In the early days of vaccine bliss, many Americans had thought that the shots were a ticket to normalcy—and at ...
What’s next for ‘living with COVID’? America’s path to endemicity is lined with potholes

What’s next for ‘living with COVID’? America’s path to endemicity is lined with potholes

Sarah Zhang | 
The answers were simpler when we thought we could vaccinate our way to herd immunity. But vaccinations in the U.S ...
‘Opting for what feels safe rather than what is safe’: Why are many pregnant women brushing off advice to get COVID vaccines?

‘Opting for what feels safe rather than what is safe’: Why are many pregnant women brushing off advice to get COVID vaccines?

Kate Cray | 
At least 200 pregnant people have died of COVID-19, including 22 in August alone; nearly 23,000 have been hospitalized. Newborns ...
Will schools mandate vaccines for kids?

Will schools mandate vaccines for kids?

Rachel Gutman | 
COVID-19 vaccination for 5-to-11-year-olds is finally a go. But even as the emergency-use-authorization process unfolded, so too did arguments over whether ...
Sperm donor controversy: Does everyone have a right to know their biological parents?

Sperm donor controversy: Does everyone have a right to know their biological parents?

Sarah Zhang | 
In the United States, where anonymous donation is still technically offered, some donor-conceived people are asserting a right to know ...
Public health has taken a huge credibility hit during the COVID pandemic. Here’s what led to this crisis

Public health has taken a huge credibility hit during the COVID pandemic. Here’s what led to this crisis

Ed Yong | 
[P]ublic health has succeeded marvelously by some measures, lengthening life spans and bringing many diseases to heel. But when the ...
Viewpoint: Battles over ‘virginity testing’ and ‘virginity-restoration surgery’ reveal the persistence of dangerous pseudoscience

Viewpoint: Battles over ‘virginity testing’ and ‘virginity-restoration surgery’ reveal the persistence of dangerous pseudoscience

Helen Lewis | 
Some girls are born without a hymen, while others tear the membrane long before they have sex, most commonly by ...
At-home antigen tests are booming — but are they reliable? Here's the case for and against them

At-home antigen tests are booming — but are they reliable? Here’s the case for and against them

Katherine Wu | 
Researchers have long known that rapid [COVID-19] antigen tests, although convenient, sacrifice some accuracy for their art. Compared with PCR-based ...
COVID and evolutionary fitness: As vaccines limit the virus' ability to evolve into lethal strains, scientists hope future variants will be less threatening

COVID and evolutionary fitness: As vaccines limit the virus’ ability to evolve into lethal strains, scientists hope future variants will be less threatening

Katherine Wu | 
There is no playbook for evolution. Delta could continue to ratchet up its rate of spread, or it could be ousted ...
We will all likely get COVID. How can we adapt to living with the virus?

We will all likely get COVID. How can we adapt to living with the virus?

Sarah Zhang | 
We don’t know exactly how the four common-cold coronaviruses first came to infect humans, but some have speculated that at ...
When might the Delta variant reach its peak?

When might the Delta variant reach its peak?

Sarah Zhang | 
We will soon get the first glimmers of data that show how Delta behaves when all restrictions are lifted in ...
How dangerous is the Delta COVID variant? Very — if you’re not vaccinated

How dangerous is the Delta COVID variant? Very — if you’re not vaccinated

Ed Yong | 
Here… are three simple principles to understand how [key COVID factors] interact. Each has caveats and nuances, but together, they ...
Did the global pandemic trigger a worldwide mental health crisis? Here’s why those fears never played out

Did the global pandemic trigger a worldwide mental health crisis? Here’s why those fears never played out

Elizabeth Dunn, Jamil Zaki, Lara Akniin | 
As clinical scientists and research psychologists have pointed out, the coronavirus pandemic has created many conditions that might lead to ...
Viewpoint: ‘Potent political weapon’ – The early and wholesale rejection of lab-leak COVID origin theory is now fully politicized

Viewpoint: ‘Potent political weapon’ – The early and wholesale rejection of lab-leak COVID origin theory is now fully politicized

David Frum | 
Democrats and public-health experts have asked: What should we do? Former President Donald Trump, for his part, minimized the need ...
Podcast: COVID has left many with survivor’s guilt. How can we process this onslaught of ‘cascading collective traumas’?

Podcast: COVID has left many with survivor’s guilt. How can we process this onslaught of ‘cascading collective traumas’?

Ed Yong | 
At least 580,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and this official tally probably omits hundreds of thousands of uncounted deaths ...
A single vaccine to protect us against COVID, SARS, MERS and all other coronavirus diseases? It may be possible

A single vaccine to protect us against COVID, SARS, MERS and all other coronavirus diseases? It may be possible

James Hamblin | 
“A universal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is step one,” [Anthony] Fauci said. Step two would be a universal coronavirus vaccine, capable of ...
Viewpoint: Tribalism and COVID — Many progressives rejecting science on lockdowns and becoming major hindrance to return to near-normalcy

Viewpoint: Tribalism and COVID — Many progressives rejecting science on lockdowns and becoming major hindrance to return to near-normalcy

Emma Green | 
The spring of 2021 is different from the spring of 2020... Scientists know a lot more about how COVID-19 spreads—and ...
Very rare and very expected: Don’t be surprised when some vaccinated people get COVID

Very rare and very expected: Don’t be surprised when some vaccinated people get COVID

Katherine Wu | 
[N]early 40 million Americans have received the jabs they need for full immunization. A vanishingly small percentage of those people ...
Viewpoint: This one man may be responsible for spreading more COVID misinformation than anyone else on TV or social media

Viewpoint: This one man may be responsible for spreading more COVID misinformation than anyone else on TV or social media

Derek Thompson | 
Alex Berenson: the former New York Times reporter, Yale-educated novelist, avid tweeter, online essayist, and all-around pandemic gadfly [has] has ...
Natural GMO: Whiteflies stole a gene from plants millions of years ago that can protect them from pesticides

Natural GMO: Whiteflies stole a gene from plants millions of years ago that can protect them from pesticides

Katherine Wu | 
Pale, squishy, and smaller than a sesame seed, these sap-sucking bugs terrorize more than 600 plant species, infecting them with ...
Republicans, young people and minorities: How to persuade the vaccine hesitant to get a COVID shot

Republicans, young people and minorities: How to persuade the vaccine hesitant to get a COVID shot

Derek Thompson | 
As the United States screams past 500,000 fatalities, the choice between a deadly disease and a shot in the arm ...
With widespread COVID vaccine hesitancy, the US may never reach herd immunity. Where will that leave us?

With widespread COVID vaccine hesitancy, the US may never reach herd immunity. Where will that leave us?

Sarah Zhang | 
For COVID-19, the herd-immunity threshold is estimated to be between 60 and 90 percent. That’s the proportion of people who ...
Why the mounting number of coronavirus mutations portends a potentially troubling future

Why the mounting number of coronavirus mutations portends a potentially troubling future

Sarah Zhang | 
For most of 2020, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 jumped from human to human, accumulating mutations at a steady rate ...
How the coronavirus is mutating, evolving—and getting more difficult to contain

How the coronavirus is mutating, evolving—and getting more difficult to contain

James Hamblin | 
Each day, [the new UK COVID variant] B.1.1.7 is being found in more people in more places, including all around the United States. Experts ...
Over 60 years, vaccines have prevented 4.5 billion cases and saved 10 million lives. Now anti-vaxxers want to roll back the clock

Over 60 years, vaccines have prevented 4.5 billion cases and saved 10 million lives. Now anti-vaxxers want to roll back the clock

Renée Diresta | 
The misleading claims Americans will soon hear about the newly released COVID-19 vaccines are nearly identical to claims made about smallpox ...
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