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The pandemic was worse than the official numbers show, and how much worse is now becoming more evident after two years. A new study, based in part on statistical modeling, suggests the loss in lives was close to three times greater than the official data. It is important to understand what happened and why in the greatest public health catastrophe since the 1918 influenza pandemic, which is estimated to have killed at least 50 million people. (3/13)

At the end of February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a consequential turn in its mask guidance. The new recommendations meant that most of the country could stop requiring masks indoors — largely passing the decision on to local authorities, many of whom had already decided to roll back mask mandates. This was greeted with a mix of contempt and indifference. Depending on whom you ask, it was either too late (Masks? What masks? Fire Fauci.) or too soon and too cavalier. A unifying thread was that the C.D.C. is wrong, its rules are politically motivated and it needs to do … better. (Dr. James Hamblin, 3/12)

Spring — a time of hope — has arrived in the pandemic struggle. Daily cases, new hospitalizations and deaths are all on the decline. Two very brutal winters are behind us. But a great deal of uncertainty hangs over the virus and the vaccines that saved the day. Will another variant emerge? Will people need a fourth dose of the remarkable mRNA vaccines — a second booster? (3/12)

The failure to include a $15.6 billion pandemic aid package in the omnibus spending bill the House passed on Wednesday is a collective mistake that could come back to haunt us. While the spending package includes funding for pandemic-related programs like a $140 million increase for the Strategic National Stockpile, these sums are not nearly enough. The White House warned that without adequate funding, the production of at-home rapid tests could slow, while monoclonal antibody drugs would run out by May. And in a letter notifying fellow Democrats that the package would be dropped on Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move "heartbreaking." (Julian Zelizer, 3/11)

Celebration would never have been the right word for anything to do with COVID-19: Too many Chicagoans were lost to the struggle against a virus that might well reemerge in yet another variant, especially as we approach next winter. But in an interview with the Tribune Editorial Board Thursday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot described the current moment as “the best place we’ve been in” over the last two years and ticked off many communal achievements of which the city can be proud. All of us, together. “Our health care system didn’t buckle,” she said. And she’s right. (3/11)

Call it what you want to—Hot Vax Summer 2.0, the Hot Vax Summer Redux—but you might be feeling it: A new phase of the pandemic is starting. With restrictions in the most COVID-cautious U.S. jurisdictions lifting, international travel picking back up, and large live events returning to American cities, the summer of 2022 stands ready to deliver some version of normalcy even if (when?) a new variant emerges. Millions of Americans can’t wait. (Christian Paz, 3/13)

There’s no great way to mark the exact moment when the pandemic began in the U.S. Was it when the first domestic case of COVID-19 was confirmed? Was it the day when the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary declared SARS-CoV-2 a public health emergency? Or was it when the first death from COVID was reported on U.S. soil? (3/13)