Your Weekend Reading: Delta Is Still Pounding Healthcare Systems
Get caught up.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a news conference at the White House on Dec. 1.
Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAA wild week had the world scrambling to figure out how dangerous the omicron variant of the coronavirus is, but there are still more questions than answers. Drugmakers always knew there would be more mutations, and that battling them without comprehensive data would be the new normal. In another sign the world is facing up to some uncomfortable truths, several countries plan to slap fines, bans and curbs on the unvaccinated. Omicron also threatens to widen an already yawning global gap in access to shots, but it’s the delta variant that’s heaping pressure on healthcare systems right now. Still, Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, warned on Friday that omicron cases may very well sweep across America. The looming question is how the variant will fare when it has to compete where delta is prevalent. “Will it take off and become the dominant variant, or will it get a bit smothered by delta?” Fauci said.
Access to abortion in the U.S. looks likely to shrink next year as six Republican-appointed members of the Supreme Court expressed a willingness to narrow or jettison 49 years of precedent. Also in court, the trial of Jeffrey Epstein-associate Ghislaine Maxwell got underway and her lawyers again revealed an alleged victim’s identity.