Health

‘It’s Just Scaring People, and It’s Not Saving Lives’

Stories about the pandemic’s continuing risks for immunocompromised people may create unintended harms.

Have We Already Ruined Our Next COVID Summer?

A lot has changed since last year’s pre-Delta lull, but America can still reclaim some coronavirus-free chill—if it decides to commit.

Two Long Years

Your pandemic reflections

Why Can’t We Just Call BA.2 Omicron?

Whatever happened to the simpler Greek-letter naming system?

The Final Pandemic Betrayal

Millions of people are still mourning loved ones lost to COVID, their grief intensified, prolonged, and even denied by the politics of the pandemic.

America Created Its Own Booster Problems

Months of confusing messaging, piled onto existing inequities, kneecapped America’s booster campaign before it had really started.

Two Weeks of COVID Lockdown in Shanghai

Millions of residents have been confined to their homes for weeks as Chinese authorities have taken a zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19.

Is It Time to Start Masking Again?

Well, that depends.

America’s Pandemic Orphans Are Slipping Through the Cracks

A new plan to help them will likely be too little, too late.

America Is Staring Down Its First So What? Wave

The United States could be in for a double whammy: a surge it cares to neither measure nor respond to.

Seriously, Why Not Get a Fourth Shot?

The risks from over-boosting are very small.

Why Kids’ COVID-Vaccine Results Don’t Look Like Adults’

After a stellar run in adult and teen trials, the vaccines are now trying to contend with Omicron, and the numbers show it.

Is Ukraine Barreling Toward a COVID Surge?

War is creating the perfect conditions for an outbreak.

America Is About to Test How Long ‘Normal’ Can Hold

Whenever it arrives, the next surge could put the country’s tolerance for disease and death in full relief.

Get Ready for a Wave of Missed Infections

At last, rapid COVID tests are everywhere—and that means a surge of false-negative results.

America’s Flu-Shot Problem Is Also Its Next COVID-Shot Problem

The successes and failures of annual flu-shot campaigns hold lessons for the future of COVID vaccines.

Another COVID Wave Is Looming

How bad will it be?

America Is Zooming Through the Pandemic Panic-Neglect Cycle

All epidemics trigger the same Sisyphean cycle of panic and neglect. Even so, that cycle isn’t meant to spin this quickly.

A New Strategy for Staying One Step Ahead of the Virus

We’re tracking how the virus is changing over time. Why not monitor immunity too?

How to Time Your Second Booster

The effects of the first one may be fading. When will it be time for seniors to re-up?