Epidemiology

The rapid spread of new variants such as Omicron offers clues to how SARS-CoV-2 is adapting and how the pandemic will play out over the next several months

Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between.

You can listen to all past episodes here.

The numerous changes in the coronavirus’s spike protein could have arisen in an isolated population or an immunocompromised person—or animals

Researchers are racing to determine whether a fast-spreading coronavirus variant poses a threat to COVID vaccines’ effectiveness

A mechanism known as “original antigenic sin” protects some people from flu. Whether it helps immune reactions to coronaviruses is still unclear

This year is unlikely to see as many severe cases as last year, but relaxed restrictions and a patchwork of vaccination could still mean trouble, experts warn

Studies of bats in China and Laos show southeast Asia is a hotspot for potentially dangerous viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2

The new findings, although preliminary, are raising concerns about the potential long-term effects of COVID-19

Pandemic ceasefires offer an opportunity to expand vaccination efforts, experts say. But negotiation is tricky

Face coverings are essential to protecting children, keeping schools open and slowing the highly contagious coronavirus variant, experts say

Mutations that make a virus more transmissible are only part of the equation

Viral load is roughly 1,000 times higher in people infected with the Delta variant than those infected with the original coronavirus strain, according to a study in China