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Merck & Co. and Ridgeback’s antiviral pill molnupiravir is a potential pandemic game-changer, judging from the positive test data that arrived Friday. To make the most of this promise, governments and global health organizations need to prepare to manufacture the pills in great quantities. The clinical trial results are preliminary, but impressive. People with fresh symptoms of Covid-19 who took the pills for five days were about half as likely as those on placebo to be hospitalized or die. The difference was so stark — eight who took a placebo died while none who got the pill did — that independent monitors stopped the trial early. (Nisen, 10/1)

Vaccine mandates work. Just ask New York Governor Kathy Hochul, whose state gave roughly 600,000 health care workers until this past Monday to get a Covid-19 jab or lose their jobs. Much naysaying ensued, accompanied by predictions that doctors, nurses, orderlies and other holdouts would quit en masse rather than allow a needle to compromise their liberty. They’ve chosen instead to do the right thing. Thousands got their shots and, as of this week, 87% of New York’s hospital workers were fully vaccinated — up from 77% in mid-August. About 92% of hospital staff have received at least one dose, as have some 92% of nursing home workers and 89% of adult care workers. (10/1)

Ninety percent of NBA players are vaccinated, the league has reported, but the unvaccinated status of the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving, the Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal, the Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins, and the Orlando Magic’s Jonathan Isaac took center stage. Each player made troubling, uninformed statements when asked why he hadn’t been vaccinated. (Jemele Hill, 10/1)

When Autumn became pregnant earlier this year, she and Zach considered their options. The couple had experienced three prior miscarriages. After talks with their physician, they both decided to wait on the COVID-19 vaccine. With that decision, Autumn became part of a growing and dangerous trend in the U.S. “The Delta variant in unvaccinated pregnant patients is one of the most horrifying disease processes I’ve ever seen,” says Danielle Jones, an obstetric hospitalist who works at several centers in Austin, Tex. “My heart is broken. My patients are suffering. Families are grieving. Moms are never meeting their babies.” (Carolyn Barber, 10/1)

This pandemic has been especially hard for Black folks in Washington. We have lost our jobs, gotten sicker and died at higher rates than other residents. I know firsthand the hurt the coronavirus can cause. My 41-year-old cousin died just a few weeks ago. He was unvaccinated. I’ve lost multiple aunts and uncles. They also were unvaccinated. I have family members who still aren’t vaccinated. Even with the personal loss, the toll that it has taken on them and those they love, some people are no closer to taking the vaccine today than they were when the shots first became available. (Crystal Gray, 10/1)

Thanks to COVID-19, schools in Tennessee's third-most populated county were closed Monday. But it's not for the reason you'd think. Earlier this month, the Knox County School Board voted against requiring students wear masks, which prompted some families of children with disabilities to file a lawsuit alleging the school was infringing on their children's right to an education under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last week, U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer agreed, prompting Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas to issue a statement over the weekend informing parents that the district would close "in an effort to ensure we are in compliance with" the ruling. (Skylar Baker-Jordan, 10/1)

The increasingly popular r/HermanCainAward subreddit on Reddit.com is a distressingly predictable sign of America’s conflict-filled times. The subreddit, which now has upwards of 340,000 followers, “celebrates” those “who have made public declaration of their anti-mask, anti-vax, or Covid-hoax views,” only to die from Covid-19 or Covid-related complications. (It is named for Herman Cain, the former GOP presidential candidate and businessman who died from Covid-19 complications in 2020 after attending a Trump campaign rally in Oklahoma.) (F.Diane Barth, 10/2)

Those on the pandemic's frontlines -- health and care workers, including nurses -- risk their lives every day to treat their patients. They face high risk of infection with Covid-19; the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in May, almost certainly a substantial underestimate, that a stunning 115,000 or more had already died from Covid-19. By July, the death toll was estimated at 200 each and every day since the pandemic began. The WHO has declared 2021 the International Year of Health and Care Workers, but to celebrate them as heroes is an empty, meaningless gesture if we continue to fail to protect them. (Strive Masiyiwa and Tom Frieden, 10/3)