We’re now living with a less virulent, but more contagious, virus — Traveling in the United States just got less safe for immunosuppressed people and others at higher risk of severe illness from Covid. Hours after a judge’s unprecedented decision to nullify the federal mask mandate on public transportation, many airline companies, rideshare services and transit agencies announced that they would no…

Paid sick leave protects businesses, health care, and the public — Awards for “Perfect attendance” should be an idea of the past. Everyone gets sick, but not everyone can afford to take time off from work to get better. Workers often find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place when they get sick: Stay home and lose a paycheck…

Omicron poses a serious threat, but we’re not back to square one — Omicron has quickly supplanted Delta to become the dominant variant in the United States after spreading widely in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and other parts of the world. In the past couple of weeks, Covid cases have set records in the U.S. — reaching almost triple the number of…

We need to maximize control of the virus while minimizing harm — Covid has changed the world as we know it, and virulent variants such as Delta have upended early hopes of a clearer-cut “back to normal.” Unfortunately, achieving herd immunity may now be an impossible dream, but we can limit death and disruption as we get to a new normal. Although…

We have the tools to go back to school safely — it’s up to us to use them — The end of summer is fast approaching and most students in the United States are preparing to go back to school soon. …

Long Covid can be debilitating. Getting vaccinated protects you from an unpredictable disease. — It’s impossible to predict with certainty how Covid will affect you if you get infected. Many Covid survivors fully recover within weeks of the onset of their illness, but for others, symptoms linger. Early in the pandemic, it became clear that many people infected with Covid continue to suffer from…

Delta’s rise makes it more crucial that people roll up their sleeves — Although more people are getting the Covid vaccine, the Biden Administration won’t meet its goal of having 70 percent of American adults receive at least one dose of vaccine by July 4 — it will take a few more weeks to reach this level. …

Who you are, where you are, and what you’re doing — In the United States, most adults are now fully vaccinated, and hundreds of thousands more people are getting vaccinated every day. Covid case counts are falling, often dramatically, in communities with high rates of vaccination. …

The vast majority of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths caused by the Delta variant occur in unvaccinated people — As predicted and feared, viral variants are now causing many of the new cases of Covid disease in much of the world. The Delta variant (B.1.617.2), which appears to have spread widely in India starting last October, appears to be extremely transmissible and might cause more severe illness. …