TimeMagazine Nothing about the current COVID-19 explosion should come as a surprise. As the virus spread throughout summer and fall, experts repeatedly warned winter would be worse. They cautioned that a cold-weather return to indoor socializing, particularly around the holidays, could turn a steady burn into a wildfire. Throw in a lame-duck President, wildly differing approaches … Read more
The weight of the pandemic first caught up with New York City ER physician Jane Kim in April. After spending weeks caring for seriously ill patients, she learned of four deaths among her “work family.” Three died of the virus, another from suicide. Her grief “halted” her, she says: “You can’t think. You can’t move. … Read more
New York City schools will shut down on Thursday, shifting all students in the country’s largest school district to fully remote learning as coronavirus cases creep upward in the city that was once the global epicenter of the pandemic and that only recently began reopening classrooms and businesses. New York City reached a coronavirus test … Read more
Pfizer and BioNTech expect to ask for emergency permission within a matter of days to start distributing their COVID-19 vaccine, the companies said Wednesday—as they released a trove of new data showing the vaccine is about 95% effective. A request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which evaluates all new medications brought to market, … Read more
We are at war with a virus that is currently winning by taking two 9/11’s worth of victims every week—by Christmas it could be three. There is no question that if 1,000 Americans were dying each day in a war, we would act swiftly and decisively. Yet, we are not. This should not be about … Read more
One of the things Julia Seibolt likes about Thanksgiving is the opportunity to get drunk with her mom. She also likes complaining about how everyone else is watching football. And she enjoys how her family gathering often includes random people who don’t have family nearby. Except there will be no family Thanksgiving for Seibolt’s family … Read more
It’s wasn’t a typical Sunday morning for Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of the biotech company Moderna, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. They were at their respective homes in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., waiting to to be let into a Zoom call to hear the results of … Read more
For the second time this month, there’s promising news from a COVID-19 vaccine candidate: Moderna said Monday its shots provide strong protection, a dash of hope against the grim backdrop of coronavirus surges in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from the … Read more
When President-elect Joe Biden steps into White House in January, he will inherit two inextricably linked crises: The worsening COVID-19 pandemic and a wide-reaching recession. As U.S. coronavirus cases are spiking to all-time highs, he will be responsible for keeping Americans safe while guiding a fragile economy through recovery. That’s a tall order—and a somewhat … Read more
The freezer in your kitchen likely gets down to temperatures around -20° C (-4° F). “That keeps your ice cream cold, but it doesn’t turn your ice cream into an impenetrable block of ice,” says Paula Cannon, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. … Read more