Social Distance

On The Review, The Atlantic's writers and guests discuss how we entertain ourselves and how that shapes the way we understand the world. Please subscribe and enjoy!

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Hello Social Distance listeners! We'd like to introduce you to a new show.

In this series, host Arthur Brooks digs into research and offers tools to help you live more joyfully. Join us for deep conversations with psychologists, experts, and friends of The Atlantic's Chief Happiness Correspondent. For more info, visit www.theatlantic.com/happy, or search for How to Build a Happy Life on your podcast app.

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Though the pandemic continues around the world, the end appears in sight in the United States. At the same time, this episode will mark the last one for Social Distance.

Jim, Maeve, and returning host Katherine Wells gather to say goodbye to the show, listen to voicemails from past expert guests, and reflect on what we’ve learned these last fifteen months.

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While case counts in the U.S. continue to drop, there are still headlines about variants and "breakthrough" infections that might worry you. Fortunately, The Atlantic staff writer Katherine Wu explains to James Hamblin and Maeve Higgins why these shouldn't alarm us just yet. And staff writer Sarah Zhang drops in to help figure out how to keep pandemic puppies from being too anxious as people return to pre-pandemic routines.

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Now that Jim's "Quite Possibly Wonderful Summer" is coming to fruition, a lot of listeners have been considering the present and future. Can you go to a tango festival? What should parents be watching for? And why, exactly, is the Surgeon General wearing that uniform? Hit play for answers and a short history lesson from historian and listener Ruth Fairbanks.

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We've all been suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic in one way or another, and as the U.S. starts to emerge, we'll need to reckon with that. The Atlantic's Ed Yong discusses his piece on pandemic trauma, how to think about it, and what he's learned in talking to psychiatrists and other experts.

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When the Biden administration announced support for waiving COVID vaccine patents last week, it was met with praise, relief, skepticism, and alarm among different groups—but surprise all around. Pharmaceutical giants have long fought efforts to have their intellectual property released to meet international needs. And they’ve backed it up with immense political muscle. Could this time be different? Would it disincentivize future research, as critics like Bill Gates claim? And how much (and how quickly) could it help?

To understand the issue, Jim and Maeve are joined by Julie Rovner, the Chief Washington Correspondent for Kaiser Health News and host of the podcast “What The Health?”

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Writer F.T. Kola returns to recount her experience with long COVID. What explains its strange constellation of symptoms? Will it ever go away? And why does vaccination seem to help?

F.T., Jim, and Maeve are joined by Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist investigating long COVID at her Yale lab. She explains what we know about the condition — and how two theories about its root cause mean the difference between a cure and no clear end in sight.

Jim's piece on herd immunity: How Herd Immunity Happens

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While wealthier countries reopen, India and the rest of the world face a terrifying new peak in the pandemic. How did it come to this? What can be done? And with new variants and limited supplies, how does the global vaccine strategy need to change to prevent more coronavirus spikes?

Staff writer Yasmeen Serhan joins Jim and Maeve to explain.

Jim’s piece:  One Vaccine to Rule Them All

Yasmeen’s piece: India's COVID-19 Crisis Is the World's Crisis

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The pandemic has led to “hygiene theater,” which gives a false sense of security. As vaccination continues, people should feel able to abandon many precautions—while continuing to focus on what really matters. How do we thread the needle between being too cautious and too cavalier? Staff writer Derek Thompson joins to help us understand public messaging. 

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