The Lab-Leak Debate Just Got Even Messier
A new leaked document is stirring up another frenzy over the pandemic’s origins. What does it really tell us?
Aleksandar Zdravkovic / Tetra Images / Getty / The Atlantic
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‘Post-Vax COVID’ Is a New Disease
Eventually we might all have to deal with COVID-19—but a shorter, gentler version, thanks to vaccines.
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Six Rules That Will Define Our Second Pandemic Winter
The pandemic keeps changing, but these principles can guide your thinking through the seasons to come.
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You Might Want to Wait to Get a Booster Shot
There are no simple rules for timing on a third jab—but maybe don’t rush it.
Sorry, a Coronavirus Infection Might Not Be Enough to Protect You
Anyone who’d rather have COVID-19 than get vaccinated is taking two gambles: that immunity will stick around, and that symptoms won’t.
Our Most Reliable Pandemic Number Is Losing Meaning
A new study suggests that almost half of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have mild or asymptomatic cases.
We’re Asking the Impossible of Vaccines
Complete protection against infection has long been hailed as the holy grail of vaccination. It might simply be unachievable.
What We Actually Know About Waning Immunity
Reports of vaccines’ decline have been greatly overstated.
The Coronavirus Could Get Worse
Delta is far from the last variant. But what shape the virus takes next depends on us.
This School Year Is Going to Be a Mess—Again
We have the tools to keep Delta in check, but schools have to actually use them.
Delta Has Changed the Pandemic Risk Calculus
If you’re confused about what you can do right now, you should be.
Why Wait 8 Months?
You could probably sneak in a COVID-19 booster shot right now. But there are a few good reasons to hold off.
The Coronavirus Is Here Forever. This Is How We Live With It.
We can’t avoid the virus for the rest of our lives, but we can minimize its impact.
Vaccines Are Like Sunscreen … No, Wait, Airbags … No, Wait …
Everyone is bad at describing the vaccines, including me.
The Vaccine Scientist Spreading Vaccine Misinformation
Robert Malone claims to have invented mRNA technology. Why is he trying so hard to undermine its use?
How the Pandemic Now Ends
Cases of COVID-19 are rising fast. Vaccine uptake has plateaued. The pandemic will be over one day—but the way there is different now.
Why Is It Taking So Long to Get Vaccines for Kids?
A few things still need to happen before the shots can be authorized for Americans younger than 12.
Masks Are Back, Maybe for the Long Term
Some people can’t help but feel that masking while vaccinated is a regression—especially because this time, there’s no obvious off-ramp.
Watch the U.K. to Understand Delta
The country lifted all its COVID-19 restrictions just as Delta peaked. What happens next will tell us how well vaccines are working.
‘Why Are We Not Vaccinating Children Under 12?’
An infectious-disease doctor on what we know about the Delta variant and the risks that lie ahead.
How Did It Come to This?
The Delta variant is winning, for the moment, and the CDC’s coronavirus map shows that we’re failing to fight it.
Vaccines Are Great. Masks Make Them Even Better.
Why not both?
Your Vaccinated Immune System Is Ready for Breakthroughs
Getting COVID-19 when you’re vaccinated isn’t the same as getting COVID-19 when you’re unvaccinated.
4 Reasons I’m Wearing a Mask Again
Our vaccines are extraordinary, but right now they need all the help they can get.
America Is Getting Unvaccinated People All Wrong
They’re not all anti-vaxxers, and treating them as such is making things worse.
Two Ways to Think About the New Mask Debate
Depending on where you live and your risk tolerance, vaccinated people are justified in either masking or unmasking indoors.
My Community Refuses to Get Vaccinated. Now Delta Is Here.
Only 35 percent of Arkansas is fully vaccinated, and with case rates rising, living there can feel like moving through a distorted reality.
Vaccination in America Might Have Only One Tragic Path Forward
COVID-19 vaccination rates have fallen off a cliff. Will it take a deadly summer surge to change things?
Delta Is Driving a Wedge Through Missouri
For America as a whole, the pandemic might be fading. For some communities, this year will be worse than last.
COVID-19’s Effects on Kids Are Even Stranger Than We Thought
Doctors have found a concerning link between the rare pediatric complication known as MIS-C and a syndrome related to tampon use.
Post-vaccination Infections Come in 2 Different Flavors
Lumping all breakthroughs together, regardless of symptoms, miscasts what our COVID-19 vaccines can do.
Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers
The pandemic was a big social experiment that sent asthma attacks plummeting.
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America’s Vaccine Future Is Fragmenting
Vaccinated America is on track to real safety. Unvaccinated America still faces a real danger from Delta.
Doctors Are Puzzled by Heart Inflammation in the Young and Vaccinated
Weighing the balance of risks is a shade more challenging when it affects the youngest among us.
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The 3 Simple Rules That Underscore the Danger of Delta
Vaccines are still beating the variants, but the unvaccinated world is being pummeled.
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Why No One Is Sure If Delta Is Deadlier
The variants are spreading faster, but they don’t necessarily have incentive to kill more often.
The Dos and Don’ts of Hot Vax Summer
A vaccinated American’s guide to traveling this summer
The mRNA Vaccines Are Extraordinary, but Novavax Is Even Better
Persistent hype around mRNA vaccine technology is now distracting us from other ways to end the pandemic.
Expect the Unexpected From the Delta Variant
There’s no way of knowing how bad things will get in the U.S. In a way, that’s a luxury.
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The Fundamental Question of the Pandemic Is Shifting
We understand how this will end. But who bears the risk that remains?
Farewell to Masks (For Now)
The value of masks is falling. But it may rise again.
What Breakthrough Infections Can Tell Us
Post-vaccination infections reveal how effective vaccines are—and which variants are sneaking past our defenses.
America’s Entire Understanding of the Pandemic Was Shaped by Messy Data
Our view of this crisis has been blurry from the beginning.
COVID-19 Vaccine Makers Are Looking Beyond the Spike Protein
It’s time for more weapons in the shots-versus-virus arms race.
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What Happens When Americans Can Finally Exhale
The pandemic’s mental wounds are still wide open.
We Can’t Hide in Our Bubble of Immunity Forever
As Americans abandon masks, the world is suffering around them.
The Doctors Who Bet Their Patients’ Lives on COVID-19 Test Results
Those waiting for an organ transplant are at risk of contracting the coronavirus whether they choose to avoid the health-care system or to interact with it.
The J&J Rescue Mission Starts With a Choice
The reputation of all COVID-19 vaccines hinges on improving perceptions of the Johnson & Johnson shot.
The Era of Mass Vaccinations Is Ending
To reach the remaining holdouts, America’s approach to vaccine distribution is going hyperlocal.
Germany’s Anti-vaccination History Is Riddled With Anti-Semitism
Jewish people were blamed for spreading disease, and considered expendable victims.
A Year Without Germs
Months of exuberant hand-sanitizing and social isolation during the pandemic have changed our exposure to microbes, in ways good and bad.
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Post-vaccination Inertia Is Real
Readjusting our ideas about what’s safe is going to take time.
The CDC Is Still Repeating Its Mistakes
The agency’s new guidelines are too timid and too complicated.
The Pandemic Made Her Sick, Even Before She Caught COVID-19
Headaches, eye pain, nausea—her symptoms began last spring. No one knows exactly why, except that the pandemic is to blame.
One Vaccine to Rule Them All
What if a single vaccine could protect us against SARS, MERS, COVID-19, and every other coronavirus-related disease, forever and ever?
We Are Turning COVID-19 Into a Young Person’s Disease
Even as cases drop among vaccinated Americans, the coronavirus still can spread among unvaccinated people—who will be disproportionately children.
The Suicide Wave That Never Was
The notion that lockdowns increased the rate of death by suicide last year has become common knowledge. It’s not backed up by data.
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The Danger of a ‘Dudes Only’ Vaccine
We still don’t know who’s most at risk of getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine blood clots.
The Blood-Clot Problem Is Multiplying
So are theories to explain it.