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Christmas of 2021: According to both President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci, together the two most prominent voices on public health in America right now, that’s when we can hope for a return to normalcy, the beginning of life after the emergency. Even that not-exactly-optimistic prediction comes with hedges and caveats. Next Christmas won’t necessarily be the end of pandemic restrictions, according to Biden — just a time when “significantly fewer people having to be socially distanced, having to wear a mask.” Likewise, Fauci has described his hope as “a degree of normality” by the end of 2021, with the possibility of widespread masking persisting into the following year. I am not vested with Biden’s authority or Fauci’s expertise, but I can read trend lines and vaccine studies, and right now both their takes look way too pessimistic. (Ross Douthat, 2/23)

A year into the Covid-19 pandemic and the U.S. is still battling this crisis. As the country enters its second and third waves of cases, we know it won’t be back to “business as usual” soon. But was “business as usual” in our health care system really working? (Melinda B. Buntin and Kristine Martin Anderson, 2/22)

The purpose of the Covid-19 vaccines is to prevent death and serious health complications that strain our overburdened health care system. All the vaccines authorized for emergency use do this, and their safety and effectiveness in clinical trials have surpassed expectations. But most people, quite understandably, want to know something more: Will being vaccinated stop the spread of Covid-19 so they can socialize outside their bubbles and dine indoors with abandon? Eventually, yes. Many scientists are reluctant to say with certainty that the vaccines prevent transmission of the virus from one person to another. This can be misinterpreted as an admission that the vaccines do not work. That’s not the case. (Angela L. Rasmussen, 2/23)

Oni Blackstock is a primary care and HIV physician and founder and executive director of Health Justice. Uché Blackstock is an emergency physician and founder and chief executive of Advancing Health Equity. In the 1970s, epidemiologist Sherman James described the phenomenon of “John Henryism,” whereby Black Americans must invest immense effort to cope with the chronic stress of racism, leading to poor health and early death. That’s still the case today, especially during the pandemic. In the first half of 2020, Black Americans’ life expectancy declined almost three years to an average of 72 years, compared with a loss of almost one year for White Americans (now 78 years). Meanwhile, Black Americans are not only twice as likely to die of covid-19 as White Americans but also dying at rates similar to those of White Americans who are 10 years older. Moreover, racial inequities are most striking at younger ages; for example, Black people ages 45 to 54 are seven times more likely to die of covid-19 than similarly aged White Americans. Why, then, are Black Americans subject to the same age cutoff for vaccination prioritization? (Oni Blackstock and Uché Blackstock, 2/22)

Ever since the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for two new vaccines, employers, schools, and other organizations are grappling with whether to require Covid-19 vaccination. While organizations are certainly free to encourage their employees, students, and other members to be vaccinated, federal law provides that, at least until the vaccine is licensed, individuals must have the option to accept or decline to be vaccinated. Knowing what an organization can or cannot do with respect to Covid-19 vaccines can help them keep their employees, students, and members safe and also save the them from costly and time-consuming litigation. (Aaron Siri, 2/23)

Let’s not kid ourselves. Efforts by both Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office and state legislators to reopen schools by vaccinating teachers aren’t the result of science or even fairness. But with teachers nervous about returning to in-person classrooms and their powerful unions putting up a mighty fight, most schools aren’t going to open without vaccinating their staffs, so let’s get on with it. (2/23)

Gov. Jared Polis missed the mark when he said in early February that it would “cost lives” to divert COVID-19 vaccines to younger, “healthier” people because “they happen to be homeless.”  In fact, the opposite is true – it would save lives. Here’s why. Congregate shelters, which thousands of unhoused Coloradans rely on for emergency shelter and vital services, are often crowded, poorly ventilated indoor spaces with hundreds of people passing through each day and sleeping just a few feet apart. (Ed Farrell, 2/23)

When the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States in the spring, I wrote that some people with severe Covid-19-related lung injury would never recover their lung function. As a lung transplant specialist and lead author on the most recent guidelines for selecting lung transplant candidates, I was concerned that transplant specialists would soon be asked to evaluate Covid-19 patients for lung transplants. The response I got from some of my colleagues in the transplant community was one of surprise: “Really? You think some of these folks will be seeking transplants?” they asked. “Yes, I do,” I said then. Now I say, “Yes, we have.” And likely with more to come. (David Weill, 2/23)

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaping deficiencies in the country’s public health infrastructure. But it’s also laid bare our extraordinarily tenuous handle on other health crises. Health officials and lawmakers should take stock of current approaches and push for strategies that we know will save lives.In no realm of public health is this clearer than the country’s overdose epidemic. By the time the national tally is finalized, 2020 will be the deadliest year on record, with more than 81,000 drug overdose deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Brandon D.L. Marshall and Ashish K. Jha, 2/22)