Have you ever had the dream where you take a test that you haven’t studied for? Or the one where you’re caught in a public place in your underwear? Here’s another common one: You open a door in your home and discover a room you have never seen before. To make this one a reality,…
Given the constraints of virus lockdowns and worries over health and safety, the bulk of your automobile use may be from grocery-store runs these days. Regardless of where you have gone in the past nine months, you’ve probably driven less than you did pre-pandemic, and that pattern could continue for many weeks or months to…
Mr. Levitt, who lives in Manhattan, has learned the hard way that his feet become blocks of ice when he sits outside for an hour or more. He’s taken to wearing warm shoes with a few layers of socks, and he and his wife and children also make sure to bring blankets. With their beanies,…
Epidemiologists say the true number of infections is probably much higher than the official tallies. Even with much more widespread testing now than in the pandemic’s early months, they say, many people who have never experienced symptoms may not have been tested or counted. Ira Longini, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida,…
In desperate times, there are many ways to stretch vaccines and speed up inoculation campaigns, according to experts who have done it. Splitting doses, delaying second shots, injecting into the skin instead of the muscle and employing roving vaccination teams have all saved lives — when the circumstances were right. During cholera outbreaks in war…
The coronavirus vaccine wasn’t supposed to be a golden ticket. A tiered and efficient rollout was meant to inoculate frontline workers and the most vulnerable before the rest of society. But scattershot and delayed distribution of the still-limited supply now threatens to create a new temporary social class — one that includes not just people…
Maria Polyakova, an economist at Stanford University, has studied the effects of the pandemic on the U.S. economy. “In general,” she said, “we expect that staying at home mechanically slows the pandemic, as it reduces the number of interactions between people.” Updated Jan. 22, 2021, 10:27 p.m. ET “The trade-off is that the reduction in…
Once we were near enough to the speakers that we could feel the bass in our chests, my mother lifted her dramatic Natalie Wood eyes, raised her arms, and let the funk rhythm take her. The trumpet theme repeated. My dad grooved too, his stiff hips loosening as the music drove on. My mother momentarily…
Elizabeth Cordero, a Los Angeles hairdresser who has had multiple miscarriages and lost her baby seven days after birth, said there is no “safe” date after which to announce. She is halfway through a pregnancy and said that “this time around, we’ve decided that we’re just going to celebrate every damn day.” In situations where…
But federal health officials who manage the government’s contracts for syringes told the F.D.A. that more than 70 percent of the sites were using the more efficient syringes and that more could be easily bought or manufactured, according to another person knowledgeable about the situation. Still, Pfizer’s attempts to pressure the F.D.A. unsettled some health…