As a health journalist who’s closely followed the pandemic since its earliest days — back when we still wiped down our groceries — I hoped I wouldn’t need to write another version of the story I filed around this time last year. Back then, I sought to answer the question: What will the fall look like?
But thanks, in no small part, to the politicization of what is ultimately a public health crisis (as well as the highly contagious Delta variant), here we are. I interviewed medical experts about what we can expect in the coming months, including whether the number of hospitalizations and deaths will be as staggering as they were last autumn.
