�������ýҕ�l

The darkest days of the pandemic are still ahead of us, as we head into the winter with a surge of cases and without a national strategy to address Covid-19. It will be especially grim for essential food workers like farmworkers and meat packers who still lack basic protections in the workplace. (Amy K. Liebman, 11/30)

ObamaCare returned to the Supreme Court this month and the law seems sure to survive a legal challenge from GOP state attorneys general. That lawsuit has long looked like a futile exercise, and the real question for Republicans is: How many elections will the party lose before coming up with a potent political argument on health care? For all the Republican success in Senate and House races, health care continues to haunt the GOP. John Hickenlooper, the Colorado Democrat who defeated GOP Senator Cory Gardner, set up the subtly named CoryGardnerWontProtectPreexistingConditions.com. Many others pounded the GOP as wanting to snatch away health insurance from Americans during a pandemic. Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly cut an ad touting himself as a defender of the vulnerable featuring a mother of a child with a heart defect. (11/29)

There is determination in the face of adversity and then there is sheer stupidity. Right now, the NFL is going all in on the latter.The Baltimore Ravens put six more players on the reserve-COVID-19 list Saturday and another two Sunday, leaving them with 36 active players. The San Francisco 49ers are homeless after Santa Clara County banned all contact sports for the next three weeks. And the Denver Broncos called up a wide receiver from the practice squad to play quarterback against the New Orleans Saints because they had no others available – yes, you read that right, none – after Drew Lock, Brett Rypien and Blake Bortles were found to have had “high-risk” contact with Jeff Driskel, who tested positive for COVID on Thursday.Yet the NFL is continuing to pretend that it’s business as usual, insisting that the games be played. (Nancy Armour, 11/28)

Our fourth annual Football Injury Highlight Reel is taking a different tack this year. In previous years — 2017, 2018, and 2019 — we surveyed injuries to youth, high school, college, and pro football players, some quite serious and some even career- or life-ending. This year we focus on the effect Covid-19 has had on the game because in 2020 a chief health harm of football at all levels of play hasn’t been the physicality of the game itself but the coronavirus. (Lisa Kearns, Kathleen Bachynski and Arthur L. Caplan, 11/26)

With more than 250,000 Americans killed by Covid-19, it’s time to think about reimagining Black Friday... If Black Friday celebrates American consumers spending in order to live well, we could also adopt it as a day to consider what it means to die well. As the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus ostensibly put it, “The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.” (L.S. Dugdale, 11/27)