Wisely or not — from both a legal and public health standpoint — a federal judge last week invalidated the CDC’s mask mandate on public transportation, essentially accelerating our “return to normalcy.” Whether you greeted this decision with relief or frustration, the consequence of the decision is that more than…

Just shy of a year ago, I wrote about my relief that the U.S. was finally investing in public health infrastructure by passing the American Rescue Plan into law. …

With states around the country lifting mask mandates, it is starting to seem like life is inching closer to “normal.” With the Omicron wave receding, more and more leaders are taking steps to transition from attempting to stop the virus in its tracks to learning to live with it. But…

The Omicron case count graphs now resemble a vertical wall rather than the curves we’ve been seeing — and trying to flatten — for the past two years. The question we’ve all been asking: when will it finally peak? Answering that question isn’t as straightforward as it used to be…

A warning hit the airwaves over the Thanksgiving holiday: yet another COVID-19 variant, dubbed Omicron, has been discovered — possibly more contagious than Delta — and Americans should take steps to protect themselves from another COVID surge before the holidays. Fortunately, booster shots were recently approved, giving most adults an…

Last week, the WHO approved a malaria vaccine, a historic accomplishment in the fight against a disease that kills about 500,000 people each year, with about half of them children in Africa. It’s a remarkable achievement that will save untold lives. But how can we ensure that this life-saving medicine…

Kindness may be our most powerful and underutilized tool in this pandemic — soon to be “multidemic.” I recently had the opportunity to have multiple conversations with people who did not want to get vaccinated. I know the science. But my endgame was not to teach them science. My endgame…

We’d all hoped to be back to normal by the start of the school year. Instead, America’s students are starting a new year mired in uncertainty and anxiety — which could have been avoided if not for politics getting in the way of beating the pandemic. And as difficult as…

Like many, I too hoped that we had turned the final corner on the COVID-19 pandemic. But the surge of the Delta variant and continued vaccine hesitancy means we are increasingly likely to see a twindemic — that is, simultaneous COVID and seasonal flu — later this year. If there…