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24 Dec, 13 tweets, 4 min read
Here are 10 pandemic pieces that I'm especially proud of.

1) On how it came to this.

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
2) This one from March--the first of the really big pieces, about the likely near- and long-term future of the pandemic.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
3) On why everything has been so confusing. theatlantic.com/health/archive…
4) On the patchwork nature of the pandemic, and how it layered on top of longstanding inequities.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
5) On the immune system, which is very very complicated.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
6) On long-haulers, and how they changed the narrative around COVID-19.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
7) On the 9 errors of intuition that are *still* trapping us in a pandemic death spiral.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
8) On what we're really talking about when we talk about "strength" and sickness.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
9) On what health-care workers have gone through and are still going through.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
10) On how the pandemic affected the world of science and the lives of scientists.

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
And a new interview about producing these pieces. longform.org/posts/longform…
Thanks to: everyone who read them; my editors, fact-checkers, & copy-editors for polishing them; The Atlantic for giving me time/space; 225 sources who shared their time & expertise; and my wife for her ideas & support.

One more piece to come Tue 29. Happy holidays till then.
Oh and also, here’s a collection of 20 pandemic pieces by other people that really resonated with me this year. Thanks to them and all the other incredible journalists who have worked their asses off. May your asses fully regrow in 2021.

getpocket.com/explore/item/e…

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More from @edyong209

Ed Yong Profile picture
14 Dec
🚨I wrote the Atlantic’s next cover story on the COVIDization of science. No other disease has been scrutinized so intensely, by so much combined intellect, in so brief a time. This piece is about both the victories achieved & the weaknesses exposed. 1/

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
A year ago, zero scientists were studying COVID‑19. Since then, the COVID-19 papers submitted to 1 journal (NEJM) outnumber all Ebola papers ever published. Researchers worked wonders at a time when research was harder than ever to do. 2/

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
We have effective vaccines against a virus that, a year ago, was still unknown. That is an *astonishing* feat, not least because it validates technologies that will make it easier to build vaccines against future pandemics, too. 3/

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
Read 10 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
5 Dec
Well, rewatching Lord of the Rings this year was... different.

Consider BILBO: just wants to finish his damn book; “butter spread over too much bread”; ages dramatically Bilbo Baggins
GANDALF: would rather be doing pretty fireworks; instead has to ride around shouting policy advice at inexplicably reluctant leaders; can’t get a day off even when dead Gandalf the Annoyed
THEODEN: “What can men do against such reckless hate? A THREAD 1/“ Theoden
Read 19 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
4 Dec
At the Atlantic, the peerless @sarahzhang has been leading our coverage of COVID-19 vaccines. Here's a thread of her amazing work.

1) A great big-picture look at the Moderna & Pfizer vaccines, which also explains mRNA vaccines are. theatlantic.com/health/archive…
2) Here, Sarah looks at the results from the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine trial and why they're a little weirder and more confusing than those from the other two.
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
3) Here, Sarah looks at the challenges posed by the transition between two administrations, and the problems that Biden may face as a result.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Read 7 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
22 Nov
It has been too long since I’ve done this, but here are some great pandemic-related pieces from the last month or so, from people whose work I respect.

If you’ve liked my work, perhaps you’ll also like the work that I like.
.@rkhamsi, who's consistently been one of the best pandemic reporters, wrote about the absurd policies that are doing the rounds: wired.com/story/a-lack-o…

and about whey we need to SEE what COVID-19 is doing to people. wired.com/story/this-pan…
.@CarolineYLChen wrote this searing piece about how frustrated health-care workers are. They "don’t need patronizing praise. They need resources, federal support, and for us to stay healthy and out of their hospitals."

propublica.org/article/the-en…
Read 16 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
20 Nov
🚨I wrote about UNMC--the hospital that, perhaps more than any other in the US, had prepared for a pandemic. It has amazing facilities. Its staff anticipated, planned, drilled.

And now?

“I don’t see how we avoid becoming overwhelmed,” one doc said. 1/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Here’s what the current surge is doing to the best-prepared hospital:
➡️One building is now a COVID tower.
➡️10 COVID units; 1 solely for patients to die.
➡️Some days, they’re short 45-60 nurses.
➡️“We’re watching a system breaking in front of us." 2/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Hospital staff are *exhausted*. A nurse who normally works in oncology told me she can barely comprehend the amount of death she has seen in recent weeks.

Work "follows me everywhere I go. It’s all I see when I come home, when I look at my kids.” 3/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Read 10 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
17 Nov
The coronavirus bursts into a bar at 10.01pm but it's empty. It sulks off, thwarted.

The coronavirus enters a room to find only 14 people. "Curses," it says, "foiled again."

The coronavirus finds *15* people but they leave after 14 minutes. "DAMMIT."

iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2020-…
This is a good time to read the latest piece from stellar reporter @rkhamsi on absurd pandemic polices. wired.com/story/a-lack-o…
And then read @rachgutman on how to think about safety. theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Read 5 tweets

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