We are all looking forward to the end game for COVID-19, when the spread of the virus slows down significantly or stops altogether because enough people have immunity to it. Whether it is by vaccine or enough people catching it, we are trying to get to the point of herd immunity, but the math to get there is tricky, and the variables used to calculate keep making it a moving target. Kevin Hartnett, senior math writer at Quanta Magazine, joins us for how the population can achieve herd immunity.




Next, from the beginning of the pandemic and despite calls from governors across the country for a unified national response, the plan has largely been every state for itself. From obtaining your own PPE and setting up your own testing and contact tracing programs, states have been desperate for federal support. Alice Miranda Ollstein, healthcare reporter at Politico, joins us for more.




Finally, the culture war over face coverings continues and it is a growing problem for retail and service workers across the country who are yelled at and sometimes assaulted for asking patrons to wear masks. They have become the primary enforcers for social distancing guidelines inside restaurants and shops even as some think wearing a mask infringes on their rights. Emily Davies, reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for how anti-maskers put business on edge.

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