Epidemics and Pandemics - The Atlantic

Epidemics and Pandemics

Where Are All the Missing Students?

November 8, 2023

A row of silhouettes of empty school desks with one single child in one, on a school-bus-yellow background

A Winter of Low COVID Vaccination Will Probably Seem Fine

Katherine J. Wu

November 2, 2023

A vaccine slowly disappears as snow piles up.

The Viral Threat Almost No One Is Thinking About

Katherine J. Wu

October 29, 2023

A black-and-white image of a person sneezing, overlaid on a black and white image of a segmented virus

Americans Don’t Get to Have the Best New COVID Drug

Rachel Gutman-Wei

October 25, 2023

Illustration of a pill-shaped window, tilted an angle, showing someone's smiling mouth and nose

One Big Benefit of Remote Work

September 29, 2023

hand on a computer mouse; the mouse cable rises upward, out of frame

A Truly Amazing Vaccine Breakthrough Is Hiding in Plain Sight

September 22, 2023

A black-and-white photo graphic of three repeating hands each holding up a syringe

COVID Drugs Are a Miracle Cure for Cats

September 18, 2023

Photo of a cat in Cyprus

The Atlantic Daily

What to Know About Fall COVID Vaccines

September 13, 2023

Woman getting a vaccine in her arm

The One Thing Everyone Should Know About Fall COVID Vaccines

Katherine J. Wu

September 13, 2023

An array of tan Band-Aids on a black background

Our First ‘Nonemergency’ COVID Season

September 7, 2023

Photo of a pile of COVID tests

The Big COVID Question for Hospitals This Fall

Katherine J. Wu

September 6, 2023

A black-and-white image of various N95 and surgical masks, hanging by their straps from pins on a wooden wall

Fall’s Vaccine Routine Didn’t Have to Be This Hard

Katherine J. Wu

August 30, 2023

gloved hands load a vaccine into a syringe, next to an array of other vaccine syringes

How Bad Could BA.2.86 Get?

August 29, 2023

Photo of a COVID test

One More COVID Summer?

Katherine J. Wu

July 29, 2023

an animation of a coronavirus particle with sun and clouds moving inside of it

How to Lose a Century of Progress

June 30, 2023

An animated illustration of colorful confetti and blue surgical masks raining down

Has COVID’s Patient Zero Finally Been Named?

June 23, 2023

People in hazmat suits working in a COVID-detection lab

Wildfire Masking Is Just Different

Katherine J. Wu

June 7, 2023

A mask within images of wildfire smoke

What the Pandemic Simulations Missed

May 30, 2023

Illustration of two chess-pieces, pawns with coronavirus-shaped heads. One is tipped over.

Fall’s COVID Shots May Be Different in One Key Way

Katherine J. Wu

May 26, 2023

A Pfizer COVID-vaccine vial with a purple cap, on top of a large array of other Pfizer vials. The vial on top is clear; the rest of the image is out of focus.

There Is No Evidence Strong Enough to End the Pandemic-Origins Debate

Katherine J. Wu

May 24, 2023

A hazy collage of different mammals silhouetted in red

The Latest COVID Variants Have a Surprising Feature in Common

May 10, 2023

Gray, gear-like coronavirus

23 Pandemic Decisions That Actually Went Right

Rachel Gutman-Wei, Sarah Laskow, Yasmin Tayag, Katherine J. Wu, and Sarah Zhang

May 9, 2023

Four arrows point at a red coronavirus

Only the Emergency Has Ended

Katherine J. Wu

May 5, 2023

A paint roller in blue-green starts to paint over a red coronavirus.

Every Emergency Needs to End, Even COVID-19

Juliette Kayyem

May 5, 2023

A mask dangling from the fingers of a man

The Atlantic Daily

The Pandemic’s Next Test

Kelli María Korducki

May 2, 2023

COVID-19 testing tent in New York City, March 2023

Will COVID’s Spring Lull Last?

Katherine J. Wu

May 1, 2023

a black and white image of a crowd of people in masks. a vertical red stripe divides the image on the righthand side.

The Pandemic’s Surprising Effect on Suicide Rates

April 23, 2023

Illustration of two people holding hands with aerial tree canopies collaged in the background.

Long COVID Is Being Erased—Again

April 19, 2023

A face revealed by a moving coronavirus

The Flu May Never Be the Same

Katherine J. Wu

April 7, 2023

a microscope image of flu B particles, clear on top and blurred on the bottom

My 6-Year-Old Son Died. Then the Anti-vaxxers Found Out.

March 28, 2023

Illustration of a half-closed laptop with a flickering screen light

Sick All the Time

Elizabeth Bruenig

March 27, 2023

Black-and-white photo of children blowing their noses

Rick Steves’s Advice for Vacationers in Europe This Summer

Caroline Mimbs Nyce

March 25, 2023

Travel guide and TV host Rick Steves

Life Is Worse for Older People Now

March 24, 2023

An image of an empty rocking chair with a covid particle underneath

Why Kids Aren’t Falling in Love With Reading

Katherine Marsh

March 22, 2023

Two children in a field display extreme emotion while holding books.

A Major Clue to COVID’s Origins Is Just Out of Reach

Katherine J. Wu

March 21, 2023

blue coronavirus particles scattered across an image, fading from left to right

The Next Stage of COVID Is Starting Now

Katherine J. Wu

March 13, 2023

a baby in a hospital bassinet in a room