It’s not too surprising that Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid. The latest variant is everywhere (we know that from wastewater studies and just from asking around). We don’t know how sick everyone is getting, but we do know that past infections don’t do much to prevent new ones. Why the Omicron offshoot BA.5 is a big deal. And, BA.5 Symptoms, At-Home Testing and Everything Else We Know About the New COVID Variant.

+ Covid has been deadly, but as Ed Yong explains in The Atlantic, America Was in an Early-Death Crisis Long Before COVID. “Were the U.S. ‘just average compared to other wealthy countries, not even the best performer, fully a third of all deaths last year would have been prevented’ … That includes half of all deaths among working-age adults. ‘Think of two people you might know under 65 who died last year: One of them might still be alive … It raises the hairs on the back of my neck.”