Scientists around the world are racing to understand the Omicron coronavirus variant. There is still a lot of uncertainty, but we asked experts four big questions about it. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
Does Omicron spread faster than earlier variants? Yes, in all likelihood. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
A bigger unknown is why the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly. Here are two plausible answers. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
Is Omicron more severe than earlier variants? Probably not. But some scientists think it’s simply too early to know as the world has been monitoring Omicron for less than two weeks. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
So far, hospitalization and death rates in South Africa have not soared even as cases have. Intriguingly, patients are reporting less loss of taste and smell. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
Are vaccinated people protected from Omicron or not? There is still no sign that it will cause a significant share of vaccinated people to get severe versions of Covid. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
But seemingly mild Covid infections can prove deadly for vulnerable people, and immunity seems to be waning over time. Experts are encouraging people to get vaccinated, even if they’ve had Covid, and getting boosted, if eligible. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
Do Covid tests — including both PCR tests and rapid at-home tests — still work? Yes, based on the signs so far. nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ Image
The bottom line is that early signs may prove misleading, and we will know more about Omicron within a few weeks.

Read experts’ full explanations of what they know so far here: nyti.ms/3rKwdzJ

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More from @nytimes

9 Dec
Most suicide websites focus on prevention. But the one started by two men who go by "Marquis" and "Serge" provides explicit directions on how to die. Our investigation linked the site to dozens of deaths and found that the toll is likely much higher. nyti.ms/3pKjnPl
The site averages about six million page views a month — four times the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, according to a web analytics company. Most members reported they were 30 or younger and had experienced mental illness. nyti.ms/3pKjnPl
Young people in the U.S. had the sharpest rise in suicide rate from 2009 to 2019, the most recent data available. Suicidal thoughts are often temporary, and treatment and detailed plans to keep safe can help, experts say. nyti.ms/3pKjnPl
Read 7 tweets
9 Dec
From Kristen Stewart in “Spencer,” to Denzel Washington in “Macbeth,” — these are @NYTmag’s best actors of 2021. nyti.ms/3DC7AaQ
@NYTmag “This year’s Great Performers is devoted to 14 actors whose presence I couldn’t shake, who would not quit me,” @aoscott writes. nyti.ms/3rNbeMR
@NYTmag @aoscott Denzel Washington and Shakespeare is an obvious recipe for greatness: the finest actor of our time performing the writer “for all time.” But there is nothing obvious about his approach to “Macbeth.” nyti.ms/30dA6lG Image
Read 9 tweets
7 Dec
1/ Nine years ago, when Hurricane Sandy devastated New York and cut the power in Lower Manhattan, Nancy Ortiz was scrambling to find ice for the diabetic seniors in her building. nyti.ms/3Dgqdkv
2/ Across the region, the storm caused tens of billions of dollars in damage and killed more than 100 people. In some areas, flooding was 14 feet high.

Ortiz lived on the edge of the Lower East Side and her neighborhood was among the worst hit. Image
3/ In the years that followed, resiliency plans sprang up, including one to protect Ortiz’s neighborhood. That plan centers on East River Park. But it stalled for years, as city missteps and reversals curled into a neighborhood fight. ImageImage
Read 8 tweets
6 Dec
As Elon Musk pushed his vision for self-driving cars at Tesla, he overrode safety concerns and may have misled drivers, former employees say. nyti.ms/3puDMbg
Elon Musk built his electric car company, Tesla, around the promise that it represented the future of driving. Much of that promise was centered on Autopilot, a system of features that could steer, brake and accelerate Tesla's sleek vehicles on highways. nyti.ms/3puDMbg
Unlike other companies working on self-driving vehicles, Musk insisted that autonomy could be achieved solely with cameras tracking their surroundings. But many Tesla engineers questioned the safety of relying on cameras without other sensing devices. nyti.ms/3puDMbg
Read 8 tweets
4 Dec
Across the country, an unregulated system is severing parents from children, who often end up abandoned by the agencies that are supposed to protect them, @lizziepresser reports in an article for @NYTmag published in partnership with @propublica nyti.ms/3GkczPr
@lizziepresser @NYTmag @propublica When caseworkers separated sisters Molly and Heaven, they dropped Heaven off with her friend’s parents and Molly was committed to an inpatient psychiatric facility. Ten days later, a woman showed up and said Molly was coming to live with her. nytimes.com/2021/12/01/mag…
@lizziepresser @NYTmag @propublica It would take years before Molly and Heaven learned that neither of them was ever in the foster system. Instead, caseworkers had diverted them to “hidden foster care” or “shadow foster care,” in which the legal protections of the formal system disappear.
nyti.ms/3GkczPr
Read 7 tweets
2 Dec
What can we learn from Hindsight?

For the first series from the Headway — our new initiative exploring the world’s biggest challenges through the lens of progress — we followed up on forecasts from decades ago to ask what time has revealed. nyti.ms/3G9JHZX
We looked for promises, prophecies and projections expected to have become reality by now. We found forecasts about clean drinking water, extreme poverty, deforestation, the fight against HIV and carbon emissions.

Here’s what we found.
In 1990, 36% of the world’s population lived on less than $1.25 a day. UN member nations pledged in 2000 to cut that percentage in half.

Did it happen?
Read 14 tweets

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