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The World Health Organization has revealed that there are now 131 confirmed cases of monkeypox, and a further 106 suspected cases, in 19 countries. Experts describe the event as “random” but “containable” and was likely sparked initially by sexual activity at recent raves in Spain and Belgium. Nevertheless, with the world still reeling from the effects of the Covid pandemic, the rise of a different disease is putting many people on edge. (Sam Fazeli, 5/24)

You might call it a disastrous “October surprise” for Democrats in this year’s crucial midterm campaign — except it wouldn’t be a surprise at all, and it is completely avoidable. The governing party’s inability thus far to reach some kind of agreement on a scaled-back version of President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation is raising a real possibility that millions of middle-class Americans will see their health insurance costs go up by hundreds of dollars per month next year. And if it happens, they will hear the news about it just weeks before Election Day. (Karen Tumulty, 5/24)

The mind reels, words falter, anger rises, and nothing is done. Nothing. Nothing. American children are dead, and still nothing. This time, it’s Texas — an elementary school. Kids. At least 19 children dead, not counting the killer. Two adults as well. Ten days ago it was a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Before that, a church. At other times, a concert, a nightclub, a shopping mall, a movie theater, a high school, a workplace, a military base, a baseball diamond, a home. Still, nothing. “What are we doing? Why are we here?” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy asked Tuesday evening. “This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day.” To which we must answer Sen. Murphy, in words appalling and shameful: We are doing nothing. (5/24)

Even in the best of times, nursing is a terrible job. We get pooped on. Yelled at. We care for a lot of people who are having the worst day of their lives. Unsurprisingly, they’re not always particularly nice or grateful, no matter how kind and gentle we try to be. We cause pain in the name of healing, sticking needles and tubes in places nature never intended, and we spend a surprising amount of time extracting, collecting, measuring, and transporting bodily fluids. (Clara Yim Bolduc, 5/25)

Traumatic brain injury, long linked to military service and sports, has another more insidious source: domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence. In fact, the number of people who sustain traumatic brain injuries during domestic violence episodes may outstrip their combined incidence in athletes and military personnel. Unfortunately, this connection isn’t often discussed. (Cecille Joan Avila, 5/25)