Omicron has swept across the country, with the variant now responsible for 95% of infections – over 700,000 new cases last week. While the Omicron variant appears to be less severe, hospitals are still likely to be overrun with this rapidly spreading infection. Two years into the pandemic — are we doing everything we can to protect ourselves, prepare for what may come next and adapt to living with Covid? Several leading health experts who think the Biden administration should be doing more recently wrote in JAMA that the White House needs a “national strategy for the New Normal.” We’ll talk with two of the authors, University of Pennsylvania physician and Vice Provost EZEKIEL EMANUEL and NYU School of Medicine’s CELINE GOUNDER, about what that Covid strategy should look like. Then, we’ll discuss the case before the Supreme Court challenging the President Biden’s authority to mandate vaccines and testing for workers at large companies. Slate’s MARK JOSEPH STERN joins us to discuss the legal arguments.

Guests

Mark Joseph Stern, staff writer covering courts and the law for Slate Magazine. @mjs_DC

Celine Gounder, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine & Infectious Diseases at New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital. She’s the CEO and Found of Just Human Productions. @celinegounder

Ezekiel Emanuel, oncologist and Vice Provost of Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a member of Biden’s transition Covid-19 Advisory Board and Former Obama White House Health Policy Adviser. He’s the author of Which Country Has the World’s Best Health Care? @ZekeEmanuel

Recommended reading

JAMA, A National Strategy for the “New Normal” of Life With COVID, “”

Washington Post, Former Biden advisers call for ‘new’ covid strategy

Slate, court-covid-vaccine-mandates.html">COVID Is an Emergency. To SCOTUS’s Conservatives, It’s Also an Opportunity.

The Atlantic, Omicron Is Forcing Us to Rethink Mild COVID