This COVID Winter Will Be Different

December is here and with it comes the third winter of the pandemic. With holiday travel and indoor family gatherings, the season has brought tragic spikes in COVID cases the past two years. Are we in for more of the same, or will this winter be different?

The Atlantic deputy editor Paul Bisceglio talks with the staff writer Katherine Wu about what to expect. Will a new variant accelerate infections as Omicron did a year ago? What does a wave of other viruses mean for the season? And after years of vaccines, masking, and testing, how can we help those who are most at risk this year?

Listen to their conversation here:

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The following is a transcript of the episode:

Paul Bisceglio: Hello, this is Radio Atlantic. My name’s Paul Bisceglio. I’m a deputy editor at The Atlantic, where I oversee our health, science, and technology coverage. With me today is one of our staff writers who reports on health and science, Katie Wu. Katie, hello.

Katie Wu: Hello, Paul. How are you?

Bisceglio: It’s good. It’s good. The last time I saw you was in person for the very first time.

Wu: Which is appalling because we have worked together for almost two years now. And, you know, you neglected me for most of those two years.

Bisceglio: (Laughs) How dare you. Not true. So I had to nudge you. But no, I mean, we’ve been in this for a while. This is in part because of what we’re here to talk about today, which is the pandemic. You know, the holidays are coming up. People want to be prepared and safe. And there’s a big question here: How worried should we be that things are going to get worse again?

Oh gosh. I mean, it depends what you mean by worse. I would say things are already pretty bad right now, depending on where your threshold is. A lot remains really unclear. And I certainly don’t want to get into the business of predicting the future. You know, first, some perspective. I think there’s a lot to be thankful for this year if we sort of compare this to past winters. You know, we have vaccines, we have treatments. And a lot of people are gearing up for a holiday season that could feel a lot like the ones that