Slate – Shannon Palus “…It’s month 20 of covering the pandemic, living through the pandemic, living with everyone else who is living through the pandemic too. Even as things are so much better—the vaccines are highly effective in the important ways—they are still very bad. You only have to glance at the hospitalizations, or turn on the news briefly, to know that. And of course, it is my job as Slate’s science editor to stay up to date on the news. Each wave of the virus brings all the old hits: The systems designed to deal with this are overwhelmed. Because of this, you—you personally—need to be more careful. Care about other people, more. Also, mind your own business as to what other people are doing. Sometimes there are remixes, like the hope a new presidency brings. But mostly, it is the same. And this time, the fresh hell of delta, for me, is: There is no longer the fantasy that we will get out…”