On July 4, 1775, just his second day serving as commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces, George Washington issued strict orders to prevent the spread of infection among his soldiers: “No person is to be allowed to go to Fresh-water pond a fishing or any other occasion as there may be a...

On January 21, the day the first U.S. case of coronavirus was reported, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services appeared on Fox News to report the latest on the disease as it ravaged China. Alex Azar, a 52-year-old lawyer and former drug industry executive, assured Americans the U.S....

We are, finally, beginning to see some real plans from people with the power to enact them. On Tuesday, California governor Gavin Newsom unveiled a sort of road map for a gradual “reopening” of the state — including benchmarks for testing and hospital capacity, and continued social-distancing guidelines and even...

There is an ever-expanding group of people who have been infected by the coronavirus but are no longer symptomatic, if they ever were—the convalescents. Governor Andrew Cuomo, of New York, has advocated for widespread blood tests as a way for restarting the economy in a way that is consistent with a responsible public-health strategy....

Policy makers don’t have to choose between public health and economic well-being. The American economy—like those of many countries—is reeling. As COVID-19 forces businesses to shut their doors and consumers to retreat within their homes, the stock market has plummeted and unemployment-insurance claims have skyrocketed. Many people...

Should wet markets be banned? It’s more complicated than it seems. The consensus among scientists who specialize in emerging infectious diseases is that the novel coronavirus jumped from animals to humans atone of China’s wet markets, places wherelive animals are often slaughtered and sold for human consumption — including, in...

First things first: It's not yet time to end social distancing and go back to work and church and concerts and handshakes. Public health experts say social distancing appears to be working, and letting up these measures too soon could be disastrous. Until there is a sustained reduction in new...

A nurse explains just how much it takes to keep Covid-19 patients alive in the sixth installment of The ER Diaries. I’ve often wished people could shadow me for a shift to see all the different people who use the emergency room, the grown man who’s been suffering...

The fight against the coronavirus won’t be over when the U.S. reopens. Here’s how the nation must prepare itself. What a difference a few months can make. In January, the United States watched as the new coronavirus blazed through China and reached American shores. In February, hindered...

The president was personally warned about the growing crisis beginning in mid-January – but continued to give false assurances to the American public. “What a problem. Came out of nowhere.” That’s how Donald Trump described the coronavirus pandemic in early March, during a televised visit to...

The coronavirus pandemic may mark the final shift of global power away from the United States. In 1994, on his 90th birthday, the legendary diplomat George Kennan, architect of America’s Cold War containment policy, said, in a speech looking back on his life and times, “It is primarily by example,...

From the start, the Trump Administration has waged war on science and expertise, making a great nation peculiarly vulnerable to the foreseeable public-health calamity of the coronavirus. When has New York known a grimmer week? The sirens are unceasing. Funeral parlors are overwhelmed. Refrigerator trailers are now in...