pandemic

Ambassador-at-Large John Nkengasong, who will lead the State Department's Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, speaks to the press about the new agency. He told NPR that the pandemic "taught us three key lessons. We are collectively more connected than we thought. We are more vulnerable than we thought. And we have [vast] inequities" when it comes to disease threats.

A new U.S. agency is a response to the fact that nobody was ready for the pandemic

7:31pm August 03, 2023

by Sacha Pfeiffer

The Bureau of Global Health, Security and Diplomacy, housed in the State Department, will plan for the next pandemic. We interviewed its director, virologist and global health leader John Nkengasong.

Queue Listen Now

A new study finds a gap in excess deaths opened between Republicans and Democrats in 2021, after vaccine access was widened to all adults. Here, a Walgreens worker prepares vaccine shots for school staff in Dayton, Ohio, in February 2021.

A political gap in excess deaths widened after COVID-19 vaccines arrived, study says

2:17pm July 25, 2023

by Bill Chappell

After vaccines became widely available in 2021, "the excess death rate among Republican voters was 43% higher than the excess death rate among Democratic voters," Yale researchers say.

A gull picks up a discarded protective face mask from the shoreline in the marina on August 11, 2020 in Dover, England.

Health & Safety

Are masks for the birds? We field reader queries about this new stage of the pandemic

2:45pm June 16, 2023

The official emergency is over but COVID is still here. And that means ... lots of questions. We asked our readers what's on their mind and then called on experts for advice.

Mountain goats roamed the streets of LLandudno, Wales in March of 2020, as the COVID-19 lockdown kept people and tourists away.

Science

Humans traveled less during COVID restrictions. Animals traveled more

4:46pm June 08, 2023

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Animals being tracked by scientists tended to travel longer distances in the early months of the pandemic, when people stayed home. The wildlife also ventured closer to roads.

A face mask languishes in the grass in Krakow, Poland. With the state of emergency over, some people are relishing freedom from masks while others believe masking up is still a wise preventive measure.

Health & Safety

We asked, you answered: How do you feel about the end of the COVID-19 'emergency'

4:04pm May 26, 2023

With the WHO and CDC lifting the COVID-19 pandemic "emergency," we asked readers what was on their minds at this inflection point. Their reflections run the gamut, and also reveal some clear themes.

Journalist Thomas Bwire asked these Kenyans how the pandemic has changed their lives. Top row from left: Abdala Hamadi, Judith Shitabule and Innocent Agwenyi. Bottow row from left: Phillister Atieno, Father Ignacio Flores Garcia and Valary Judith Atieno.

Health & Safety

Kenyans are shocked, joyful and skeptical: a slice of life post-COVID emergency

3:18pm May 10, 2023

by Thomas Bwire

Our reporter spoke to residents of Kibera, known as Africa's largest urban slum. Many had not yet heard that the World Health Organization ended the state of "emergency." Here's what they told us.

The U.S. public health emergency declaration helped marshal resources during the worst of the COVID crisis, when the virus was spreading rampantly. This week, the declaring expires.

The COVID public health emergency ends this week. Here's what's changing

4:43pm May 08, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Three years ago, the emergency declaration enabled certain tools for fighting the pandemic and protecting Americans. Now that it's expiring, here's what is changing — and what's not.

Health & Safety

A new flu is spilling over from cows to people in the U.S. How worried should we be?

2:05pm March 29, 2023

by Michaeleen Doucleff

Pigs and goats likely catch it too. It's been found in humans' noses in the Southwest — and in the air at airports and at chicken farms in Malaysia.

Queue Listen Now

These two photos, taken in 2014 by scientist Eddie Holmes, show raccoon dogs and unknown birds caged in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. GPS coordinates of these images confirm that the animals were housed in the southwest corner of the market, where researchers found evidence of the coronavirus in January 2020.

WHO calls on China to share data on raccoon dog link to pandemic. Here's what we know

4:11pm March 17, 2023

Data was released briefly, then rescinded. As NPR reported previously, there is already strong evidence pointing to these animals in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.

A South Korean child masks up to ride a scooter on Feb. 27, 2020 in Seoul.

On 3/11/20, WHO declared a pandemic. These quotes and photos recall that historic time

4:28pm March 10, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Three years ago, the novel coronavirus swept the world. Here are 24 quotes and 13 photos that sum up the reaction in the weeks before the World Health Organization's declaration of a global pandemic.