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Two years ago, at age 52, nurse Amy Rosenberg had her first panic attack. She works full time on a COVID-19 unit but this day, she was sitting behind the wheel in a car wash and she felt trapped. “That’s when I realized I now have claustrophobia,” she said. “Because of what I do to people. You get intubated, you get strapped, you get flipped. I realized that’s my biggest fear: That it could happen to me.” (Connie Schultz, 12/23)

It feels like everyone I know has COVID. During earlier stages of the pandemic, most of my friends were spared a direct brush with the virus. Perhaps they used to be much more careful. Or perhaps they were just lucky. Whatever the reason, their good fortune has now run out. Seven close friends recently told me they had tested positive. Several more strongly suspect they have COVID but are unable to get their hands on a test. Thankfully, everyone has decidedly mild symptoms (no doubt in part because they all are vaccinated and they are not in high-risk categories). (Yascha Mounk, 12/22)

As terrifying as the rapidly spreading omicron variant is, fewer Americans should have to spend the holidays alone this year out of fear of contracting Covid-19. Not only do we have life-saving vaccines. For many people, rapid tests can effectively flag those who are likely to be infectious, allowing others to gather safely. Sadly, many people won’t be able to get those tests when they’d do the most good — right before a holiday visit. We can hope that President Joe Biden's pledge to get 500 million free tests mailed out to any U.S. household that requests one will help remedy the underuse of an important pandemic control tactic. (Faye Flam, 12/22)

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the case fatality rate was frightening. This metric represents the proportion of all known people infected with a disease who die from it. The World Health Organization initially put it as high as nearly 16% in Algeria. Several colleagues and I at Vital Transformation began closely following the data on Covid-19 early in the pandemic. We wondered if case fatality rates might be skewed by lack of testing. We collected data on various indictors that early on were thought to be influencing the spread of Covid-19. (Duane Schulthess, 12/22)

These days, it is hard to avoid getting caught up in the daily churn over mask and vaccine mandates. Log into Facebook or turn on any cable news station and you will hear plenty of opinions from good folks with differing and deeply held point of views. Wherever one falls on the ideological spectrum about the appropriate next steps in the fight against COVID-19, it is worth taking a step back to marvel at how far our country has come in the last 12 months. (Joe Ingle, 12/22)

Since 2020, Britain has used rapid at-home antigen tests to help combat the spread of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Today, these tests are widely available for anyone who wants them, free of charge (though there have been shortages during the Omicron surge). People in Britain are encouraged to use them regularly and before attending events like games or concerts. (Alan McNally, 12/23)

As 2021 draws to a close, it’s a good time to look back, and to look forward. This has been another tough year, but there’s also a lot to be grateful for. While no country is out of the woods from the pandemic, we have many new tools to prevent and treat COVID-19. Nearly 9 billion doses of vaccine have been administered globally, saving millions of lives. (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 12/22)

For nearly two years, many Americans have treated coronavirus infections as something that can, and should, be avoided by rigorous, proscribed behavior. You should have known better than to go into that restaurant! What, you went to a wedding? Did you wear a mask? Did everyone else? Was it indoors? (Helanie Olen, 12/22)