I’m really grateful to everyone who read the big new cover story this week. If you’ve liked my work, perhaps you’ll also like the work that I like. Here are some great pandemic-related pieces from the last month, from writers whose work I respect.
Here’s a critical vaccine reality check from @sarahzhang, who is surely one of the most formidable science writers working today. Every piece is beautifully explained and meticulously researched. This one is really important. theatlantic.com/health/archive…
A stunning investigative work by @katherineeban into Jared Kushner’s shadow taskforce and its secret, shelved testing plan. It’s perhaps the closest we have to an actual disproval of Hanlon’s razor. vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/h…
.@zeynep is one of the truly essential voices in this pandemic, with one spot-on analysis after another. Here’s her latest on the thorny matter of transmission, “airborne”, and ventilation. Scholarly, clear, nuanced. theatlantic.com/health/archive…
.@rkhamsi keeps on being first with these amazing pieces about aspects of the pandemic that no one else is writing about. She did it with the airborne question in March. She’s doing it here with persistent positive testing. elemental.medium.com/the-mystery-of…
.@apoorva_nyc has written 63,048 pandemic pieces since you started reading this sentence. This one’s especially vital, about how the pandemic is screwing up our ability to fight the other big diseases. nytimes.com/2020/08/03/hea…
“America’s pandemic policy is built on choosing money over lives.” @juliacraven lays out the attitudes that have cost so many people their lives. It’s taut, unwavering, and historically grounded, and pairs really well with the big piece I wrote. slate.com/news-and-polit…
.@amymaxmen is one of the best reporters on the infectious diseases beat. This piece, with @jefftollef, looks at all the experts who spent decades war-gaming a possible pandemic, and the thing they didn’t account for. nature.com/articles/d4158…
.@AdrienneLaF's piece on reopening schools grounds an evidence-based argument within the emotions of our uprooted lives. Last three grafs: oof. Read anything ALF writes (inc. her epic QAnon cover story) theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Speaking of schools, this @AshleyFetters piece on the alternatives to reopening is fantastic. It resists simple dichotomies, discusses creative solutions, and is suffused with the humanity that characterizes all Ashley’s work. theatlantic.com/family/archive…
This @lilyjmeyer piece is both a sharp critical review of the growing genre of pandemic-lit but also a memo to those of us engaged in communication. Those first and final grafs are fire. theatlantic.com/culture/archiv…
By now, you surely don’t need me to tell you how good @HelenBranswell is. See this piece on fixing the dumpster fire. It really cuts to it. Helen doesn’t waste your time. statnews.com/2020/07/14/fix…
This @sioroberts piece about Bayesian thinking is a great entry in the “how to think about the pandemic” genre. Update your priors! nytimes.com/2020/08/04/sci…
.@stephaniemlee's investigative work is always impressive. This is the latest in a series on how one scientist came to symbolize the academic problems that he supposedly stood against. buzzfeednews.com/article/stepha…
.@carolynkor's story is part mystery, part personal essay, part science explainer. It really gets at the messy collision between population-wide epidemiological findings and personal experience. newyorker.com/culture/person…
And here are two earlier iterations of these threads from the spring
Happy weekend.
Happy weekend.
One more addition: @marynmck is a veteran of the the infectious disease beat, and here’s her insightful look at the US’s covid datatastrophe.
wired.com/story/covid-19…
wired.com/story/covid-19…
