Impressive as they are, vaccines are only one element of the public-health toolkit — About the coronavirus vaccines now under development: There are dozens of them, and while the safety of each will be independently verified before public distribution, vaccines are not by themselves a panacea. We will need continued vigilance and good public-health hygiene for several more months after initial distribution.

Income, race, and ethnicity have outsized effects on outcomes — As we prepare for a coronavirus-truncated Thanksgiving this is a good a time to note that those less fortunate — especially those in poverty and people of color — suffer far worse consequences from the pandemic than relatively affluent whites. I’m grateful to Andy Slavitt, a former insurance company executive…

The virus is out of control, and getting worse. But this week brought at least two positive signs — This week’s coronavirus news is so awful at every level that I’m instead going to focus mostly on two positive developments. As usual there are complete weekly stats at the end of this post. First, a caveat. Neither of new these developments will help us right now. The whole country…

We’re back to record risk levels, both nationwide and here in Ventura County — There were two contests this week, both centered on the coronavirus, and both with clear winners and losers. In the contest that got less attention, the one pitting humans against the virus, the virus is winning.

The worst week yet in COVID-19 history — and what we can do about it — No nation has ever recorded more new COVID-19 infections than the US did this past week. Friday alone saw nearly 100,000 new cases, another record after days of records. New cases are way up in California too. …

The coronavirus news is grim — and likely to get more so — It is now clear that a third coronavirus surge is well under way. …

California enjoys coronavirus calm as cases spike nationwide — In 1348, as a plague killed thousands in Florence, a lucky few escaped to the Tuscan hills, enjoying themselves with the stories memorialized in Boccacio’s The Decameron. That’s been the situation this past week here in California: We live in comparative calm, while new cases and hospitalizations rose rapidly around…

The president tested positive. So did nearly 300,000 others. — Nearly 300,000 Americans tested positive for coronavirus this week, including one named Donald J. Trump. “In medicine and public health, you don’t blame patients when they’re sick. You look for systemic failures,” said Ashish K. Jha, dean of public health at Brown University. I join millions of others in wanting…

Local coronavirus conditions improve, but nationally the virus is on the rise again — For centuries, most people lived in villages a few miles apart, spoke different dialects, and had limited awareness of the larger world around them. Welcome to the New Normal, coronavirus edition. As we passed 7 million coronavirus cases and 200,000 dead this week¹ (likely 266,000 if we count all excess…