We’re in the Thick of It

Three glimpses into what could come next

Yesterday, in an unlikely interview between NBA superstar Steph Curry and U.S. coronavirus lead Anthony Fauci, MD, Curry asked: “The question on everyone’s mind is when can we go back to normal?” The short answer is: Not for a while.

At Vox, science journalist Brian Resnick explains why it’s imperative that people patiently accept even more social distancing. He likens the situation to taking a course of antibiotics: “You have to complete the whole regimen of pills even when you start feeling better.”

The U.S. botched its response to the 1976 swine flu outbreak by prioritizing a hastily constructed plan to immunize everyone with a new vaccine. It made some people sick, and the epidemic never materialized. Doctor-scholar Harvey Fineberg, who studied the fallout, told ProPublica the relevant takeaway for the current crisis: “The president is being forced today into a false choice between saving the economy or saving lives. That is not the actual choice.”

Imagining life after coronavirus means confronting how the pandemic is changing us now. At the New Yorker, Masha Gessen observes how society is being torn apart, and urges us to consider how to repair it.