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As the Ebola epidemic raged in 2014, some West Africans resisted public health guidance. Some hid their symptoms or continued practicing burial rituals — like washing the bodies of their dead loved ones — despite the risk of infection. Others spread conspiracies claiming the virus was sent by Westerners or suggested it was all a hoax. In Conakry, Guinea’s capital city, an imam was arrested for violating his quarantine, and residents protested by not letting health officials check for fevers. So the World Health Organization sent Cheikh Niang, a Senegalese medical anthropologist, and his team to figure out what was going on. (Charlie Warzel, 7/22)

I've received increasing criticism in recent weeks because I've offered more nuanced messaging on whether everyone should wear cloth face coverings in public to protect against COVID-19 transmission—messaging that some view as unacceptable. The criticism has included a recent commentary by Masks4All proponents Jeremy Howard and Vincent Rajkumar, MD, that mischaracterizes my position on cloth face coverings and misrepresents the science of personal protection for COVID-19. Again, I want to make it very clear that I support the use of cloth face coverings by the general public. I wear one myself on the limited occasions I'm out in public. In areas where face coverings are mandated, I expect the public to follow the mandate and wear them. At the same time, I have been concerned about "message creep" since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first recommended in April to use cloth face coverings without providing additional context regarding their use. (CIDRP Director Michael T. Osterholm, 7/22)

I am a hospitalist in Arizona, which is one of the most infected states in the nation. COVID-19 cases are surging here. I watch, horrified, as the number of cases and deaths increases. Every day I hear "Code Blue" called overhead for someone in one of the many COVID units. I listen as colleagues notify family members that their loved one is unlikely to survive. (Brandon Bikowski, 7/23)

Life probably won’t return to normal until we have a widely distributed Covid-19 vaccine, and the good news is this may happen sooner than expected thanks to years of private investment and new cooperation between the U.S. government and drug companies. On Wednesday the Trump Administration announced a $1.95 billion advance order for 100 million doses of a promising vaccine candidate by Pfizer and Germany-based BioNTech that could be available by the end of the year. Dare to dream. The drug makers plan to begin the final phase of their clinical trials this month and seek regulatory approval as soon as October. (7/22)

This might be the most obvious thing in the world, but parents need to come to grips with the fact that their kids probably aren't going to be in classrooms this fall. There will be exceptions, sure, in places where schools do open for normal hours or something close to it. There will be kids who go part-time (this is becoming known as the "hybrid" option). But it's becoming clear that a large portion of the country's kids won't be in class and parents need to start planning for that if they haven't already. (Zachary B. Wolf, 7/22)

By the time Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that most California schools would have to start the fall semester online, the state’s seven biggest school districts, representing 17% of its students, already had announced that they were going online-only or were headed in that direction. Given the surge in COVID-19 cases, the decision was inevitable. The current situation is treacherous, and too much is unknown about where the pandemic is headed. Yes, other nations have successfully reopened their campuses, but they started with much lower infection rates than the more than 30 counties on California’s watchlist, which includes Los Angeles and Orange counties. (7/23)

On Monday, my 20-year-old daughter called. (Actually, she Face-Timed. Only boomers like me call people anymore.) She was peppily reporting the details of how her internship in North Carolina was going when she changed her tone and said: “I have to tell you guys something else.” She then let us know that her roommate was mildly sick and displaying some symptoms that could be linked to COVID-19. (Scott Maxwell, 7/22)

No child in South Carolina should be forced to be physically present in a school building in order to receive an adequate education during the upcoming academic year. Period.It’s that simple. That should be a steadfast and firm rule of thumb as our state works toward reopening our schools by this fall — and particularly as long as South Carolina continues to grapple with troubling rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths. It’s time for Gov. Henry McMaster to leave no doubt that he embraces that philosophy. (7/21)

Public schools are essential. Experts across disciplines agree that in-person school serves students better than distance learning. Students need to be with their peers. Parents need in-person school to meet childcare needs. Businesses need schools open for employees to come to work. But if schools cannot open safely, then they must remain closed. Our children’s safety must be our top priority. Numbers of COVID-19 cases are spiking across the state. If we cannot contain the virus, then we cannot expect our students to return to in-person school or demand that teachers and school workers put their lives at risk. (State Rep. Lisa Willner, 7/22)