Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.
More than 1,000 American hospitals report that they don’t have enough staff to manage the influx of coronavirus patients.
That’s 22 percent of hospitals in the U.S..
This frightening statistic, courtesy of my colleague Alexis C. Madrigal, is a quantitative summary of the horror story already unfolding. Nationwide, beds are filling. So are body bags. Health-care workers are scared.
“It keeps rising and rising, and we’re all running on fear,” one told Ed Yong.
A change is coming; vaccines look promising. But relief appears to be at least another season away. In the meantime, our writers have some practical advice for Americans.
-
Lock yourself down now. “It’s time to buckle up and lock ourselves down again, and to do so with fresh vigilance,” Zeynep Tufekci writes.
-
Cancel Thanksgiving. “Telling people not to gather for a holiday is, of course, an unpopular message,” James Hamblin writes. “So I’m doing it.”
-
The golden rule of pandemic winter safety is simple, Rachel Gutman explains: Don’t spend time indoors with people outside your household.
Tonight’s Atlantic-approved isolation activity: