The Atlantic Daily: America Is Fumbling Its Way Through Another Major Surge

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Yet again, America is fumbling its way through a major surge of the coronavirus. Though the primary variant in play, Omicron, is distinct—this iteration of the virus seems both more mild and more transmissible than previous ones—the pain points are the same. The country is making familiar mistakes anew, as it scrambles to adjust pandemic guidance in light of skyrocketing case counts.

• Hospitals are in trouble. Omicron “might be less of a threat to individual people, but it’s disastrous for the health-care system that those individuals will ultimately need,” our staff writer Ed Yong reports.
• The CDC is once again missing the mark. Confused about its new isolation guidelines? You’re not alone, Katherine J. Wu explains.
• The Supreme Court ruling on President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate may have sweeping implications. During arguments today, the Court’s conservatives seemed skeptical of the mandate for large businesses. The case could trigger a dismantling of the federal government itself, the law professor Kimberly Wehle argues.

Explore the week that was. New Year’s celebrations, snowstorms, and more: Our senior editor Alan Taylor offers a photo tour of the first week of the year.

Read. Hanya Yanagihara’s new novel, To Paradise, “is executed with enough deftness and lush detail that you just about fall through it, like a knife through layer cake,” Jordan Kisner writes in our magazine.

If you’re looking for something a little spooky to read by the fire this winter, try one of these eight fascinating ghost stories.

For some nonfiction to help you better understand the unrest in Kazakhstan, revisit our 2005 magazine profile of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s former leader who is now the target of protesters’ anger.

Watch. Over the holidays, Spider-Man: No Way Home dominated at the box offices, giving theaters a bit of hope after two years of pandemic woes.

The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, upends Hollywood’s ideas about motherhood. It’s streaming on Netflix. Also on the platform: Don’t Look Up, a polarizing movie from the director Adam McKay that our critic called “a primal scream of a film.”

In case you missed it: HBO’s Insecure came to an end after five seasons. Hannah Giorgis looks back at how its co-creator, Issa Rae, built the show’s world.

The new Disney+ Star Wars series, The Book of Boba Fett, is watchable but uninspiring, Spencer Kornhaber writes.

Listen. Fill your audio queue with picks from our list of the 50 best podcasts of 2021. On The Review, our culture podcast, our critics discuss the “meta-emptiness” of Netflix’s Emily in Paris.

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.