Los Angeles Times

Commentary: We’ve made huge advances against COVID. Why is it still killing so many people?

The Seaport Village Trolley Station is largely empty, save for pigeons pecking around a discarded mask and bottle of Lysol on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020 in San Diego.

Many immunocompromised and older people are still terrified of COVID. As a transplant infectious disease doctor on the front lines, I understand why.

In the first five months of 2023, COVID caused more than 37,000 deaths in the U.S., a typical toll from the flu in an entire year. Scientists estimate an annual U.S. COVID death rate of at least 100,000, dwarfing other infectious diseases. And the virus continues to evolve: The highly transmissible XBB.1.16 subvariant (Arcturus), currently making up about 15% of cases nationally, is expected to be

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