“Across the country, more than 27 million people have contracted the coronavirus, and 485,000 have died. That’s the highest Covid-19 toll of any country and more than the coronavirus deaths in Italy, Germany, Australia, Japan, the UK, Canada, and France combined. It exceeds the US death toll in World War II. It’s also an underestimate, and doesn’t account for all the people impacted by loss.” Vox with a look at the pandemic’s wrath so far: The virus was unsparing.

+ “I caught this virus before anyone had even died in Illinois. That was like a century ago, right? Now we’re talking about Year Two, vaccines, new variants, a new administration, but for me it’s still exactly the same. I’m always in this bed. I’m always in this room. I’ve been sick for the last 330 days. I force myself to keep track because otherwise time doesn’t move. I feel like I’m in jail and putting tally marks on the wall.” The latest in Eli Saslow’s excellent as told to series: Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll start to feel better. (Imagine having to suffer all the pandemic related lies, conspiracies, and stupidity from your sick bed.)

+ Cases are down right now, with vaccines up and spring in the air. But the variants are coming. And we need to go faster. Derek Thompson in The Atlantic: Averting a wave of new COVID-19 fatalities could require some dramatic, untested, and controversial strategies.

+ And the almost miraculously good news (in the scientific/secular sense): Israeli study finds 94% drop in symptomatic COVID-19 cases with Pfizer vaccine.