Public Health
Dispatch
East Palestine, After the Crash
More than a year after a train derailment and chemical fire in Ohio that made international news, residents contend with lingering sickness, uncertainty, and, for some, a desire to just move on.
Daily Comment
How Much Hotter Can Texas Get?
The state endures high temperatures, but not usually so early in the summer, or for so long. Something is different.
Comment
The Hazy Days of Summer
An awareness that the air around you isn’t fit to breathe can be a uniquely alarming sensation. It is also likely to become more common.
Daily Comment
Title 42 Is Gone, but What Are Asylum Seekers Supposed to Do Now?
It’s hard to imagine an area of federal policymaking more vexed than immigration, generally, and asylum, specifically.
Daily Comment
Lab Leaks and COVID-19 Politics
The latest report on the origin of the virus behind the pandemic is still inconclusive, but there are lessons to be learned from it.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
The Pandemic at Three: Who Got It Right?
Can we fix the response to COVID-19 in a country that seems broken? Plus, Stephanie Hsu talks with Jia Tolentino about “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Annals of Inquiry
The Forgotten History of Head Injuries in Sports
Stephen Casper, a medical historian, argues that the danger of C.T.E. used to be widely acknowledged. How did we unlearn what we once knew?
Personal History
Nobody Has My Condition But Me
Medical researchers find my genetic mutation endlessly fascinating. But being unique isn’t a plus when you’re a patient.
Comment
The Dire Aftermath of China’s Untenable “Zero COVID” Policy
Why did the nation, which suppressed the virus for years, fail to prepare for the inevitable?
Annals of Activism
The Case for Wearing Masks Forever
A ragtag coalition of public-health activists believe that America’s pandemic restrictions are too lax—and they say they have the science to prove it.
Letter from the Southwest
The Water Wranglers of the West Are Struggling to Save the Colorado River
Farmers, bureaucrats, and water negotiators converged on Caesars Palace, in Las Vegas, to fight over the future of the drought-stricken Southwest.
Daily Comment
The Preventable Tragedy of Polio in New York
Polio is one of the few diseases that can be eradicated—but faltering vaccination rates could undo years of hard-won global progress.
Annals of a Warming Planet
Living Through India’s Next-Level Heat Wave
In hospitals, in schools, and on the streets, high temperatures have transformed routines and made daylight dangerous.
Dispatch
The Agony of an Early Case of Monkeypox
A friend’s experience revealed a shocking lack of awareness and preparation to counter the spread of the virus in the U.S.
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News Desk
The Dobbs Decision Has Unleashed Legal Chaos for Doctors and Patients
Overturning Roe v. Wade put old laws—including one from the nineteenth century—back on the books, and opened the door for new ones with ambiguous language and glaring omissions.
The New Yorker Interview
“We Have to Get Out of This Phase”: Ashish Jha on the Future of the Pandemic
President Biden’s COVID czar talks about his public-health philosophy, his Twitter threads, his unlikely path to the White House, and where we go from here.
Daily Comment
What’s Missing from Alito’s Decision to Revoke the Right to Abortion
In a leaked draft, the Justice points to “history and tradition” but ignores the context of both the past and the present.
Daily Comment
After a COVID Expert Struggled to Obtain New Treatments for His Parents, He Tweeted a Road Map
Older, disabled, and chronically ill Americans who could benefit from novel therapeutics are scrambling to find them easily.
Daily Comment
The Hazard-Filled Ruling on the Transportation Mask Mandate
The judicial order, which inspired social-media videos of people gleefully unmasking on airplanes, was sudden and startlingly broad.
Annals of Education
Why Are Preschoolers Subject to the Strictest COVID Rules in New York City?
Masks are no longer required at sporting events, in offices, or on planes, but toddlers still have to wear them at school.