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At a news conference last month, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio held up a handmade sign that read “FOMO ALERT!” in red and blue capital letters. His goal? To convince tourists and locals alike that they’d be crazy to miss out on a “historic” series of August concerts he pitched as a sort of late-pandemic Woodstock. While this made-for-social-media moment largely fell flat, it offered proof that de Blasio is a big believer in the persuasive power of FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out. And with coronavirus infections once again rising across America, understanding this psychological phenomenon could be key to fighting back. (Patrick J. McGinnis, 8/16)

A pervasive myth floating around social media holds that lots of people can’t be vaccinated, or shouldn’t be, or are ineligible due to medical conditions. Even the mainstream media sometimes gives us that impression. A recent New York Times opinion essay, for example, proclaimed that in addition to those refusing vaccines, “millions more, of course, are children under 12 and those disqualified by underlying health conditions.” (Faye Flam, 8/16)

A lasting memorial may be emerging for the millions of people who will have tragically died of Covid-19 by the time the pandemic ends: the demonstration that breakthroughs can happen fast when drug companies and regulators listen to and communicate openly with patients. The concept of patient engagement across the health care ecosystem emerged more than a decade ago. Its core idea — incorporating patients’ actual experiences, perspectives, needs, and priorities into treatment efforts and drug-development decisions rather than taking them for granted — started a fundamental change of thinking in the drug development world. (Anthony Yanni, 8/17)

When I woke up with pressure in my sinuses and a sore throat the morning of July 27, I was convinced it was a sinus infection. After all, my husband and I were vaccinated back in April with both doses of Pfizer. I didn't have a fever, I didn't have a cough, and I could still smell and taste everything. I was tired and dragging — but hey, the common cold still exists, right? So I did what I would normally do: Stayed home, had my husband bring me the ingredients for chicken soup, overdid the vitamin C and water, and tried to take a long, quick walk outdoors in an attempt to burn out the illness. On Wednesday, I felt a little worse. Then Thursday came. (Rebekah Maher, 8/16)

As thousands of unmasked motorcyclists carouse in the streets of Sturgis, S.D.; as protesters greet vaccine and mask mandates with comparisons to Hitler; as vaccination rates lag and COVID caseloads climb, we’re also seeing — paradoxically — a wave of sympathy for those who have failed to behave responsibly. “Don’t be mean” is the new mantra. Blame, we’re told, is not an effective public health strategy. Those people who won’t wear masks or who refuse to be vaccinated — they’re just misinformed. (Nicholas Goldberg, 8/16)

Back in May, I was optimistic that the United States could get to a best-case scenario where we’d reach a high enough level of vaccination that we could hold covid-19 at bay. At the very least, I thought we’d have a quiet — almost normal — summer. Americans could resume much of their pre-pandemic lives, and those of us in public health could focus on other pressing health issues that the pandemic has sidelined, such as the rising toll of opioid overdose deaths and the neglected epidemic of obesity. (Leana S. Wen, 8/16)