In a pandemic full of mixed messaging, you would not be alone if you found this past week in Covid news particularly confounding.
While outbreaks in Europe and Asia are on the rise— and a spike in cases in the United States likely on the horizon, Congress this week removed $15 billion in Covid-related funding from a $1.5 trillion spending bill. The White House warns this will mean dire cuts to testing, treatment and vaccine distribution, with some services suspended as soon as next week. That same day the Senate voted to overturn the public health order requiring masks on airplanes and public transit.
All of this has left many public health and infectious disease experts—and confused members of the public—concerned about what’s coming our way next, and how we, as a country, are going to deal with it.
What is this new Covid-19 variant?
Omicron, which ravaged the…
