Health

I’m Sorry, but This COVID Policy Is Ridiculous

The recent attempt to limit the spread of disease from China makes no sense at all.

How Worried Should We Be About XBB.1.5?

Yet another new and highly transmissible subvariant of the coronavirus is taking over.

The Inflated Risk of Vaccine-Induced Cardiac Arrest

Damar Hamlin’s collapse on Monday Night Football calls attention to a medical myth that will not die.

74 Things That Blew Our Minds in 2022

Where The Atlantic’s science, technology, and health reporters found wonder in a sometimes-sobering year

People Are Fed Up With Rapid Tests

At-home swabbing still works just fine, but we can’t seem to escape false negatives. What gives?

No One Can Decide If Grapefruit Is Dangerous

The citrus can raise the level of dozens of drugs in the body—sometimes to a worrying degree, sometimes very much not.

How Many Republicans Died Because the GOP Turned Against Vaccines?

Party leaders are unquestionably complicit in the premature deaths of their own supporters.

Should Everyone Be Masking Again?

’Tis the season to cover your nose and mouth.

Nasal Vaccines Are Here

Now they’re being used in China. But do they work?

Maybe Consider Not Kissing That Baby

Close your mouth and step away from the human.

Consider Armadillo COVID

Animals could give us the virus—again.

Is COVID a Common Cold Yet?

Its symptoms have changed a lot.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Another COVID Surge

Once again, our pandemic numbers are creeping in the wrong direction.

China’s COVID Wave Is Coming

The world’s most populous nation is being forced onto a zero-COVID off-ramp.

The Year Without Germs Changed Kids

Children who spent their formative years in the bleach-everything era will certainly have different microbiomes. The question is whether different means bad.

How Many COVID Deaths Will Chinese Protesters Accept?

Strict zero-COVID policies have kept disease from spreading, but at enormous social cost. How far should they be rolled back?

Expiration Dates Are Meaningless

Do I dare to eat an old peach yogurt? Yes, yes I do.

The Future of Monkeypox

As case numbers fall, the outbreak could become entrenched.

We Still Don’t Know What Fundamentally Causes Canker Sores

But it’s probably the immune system’s fault.

The Pandemic Broke the Flu ... Again

COVID knocked flu, RSV, and other respiratory diseases out of whack. When will they be back to normal?