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The JN.1 variant is here, just in time for the holidays
By Jamie Ducharme
Health Correspondent

As (bad) luck would have it, a new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is gaining a foothold in the U.S. just as an estimated 115 million people gear up for holiday travel. It’s called JN.1, and it’s the latest in a long line of Omicron descendants to cause lots of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

The timing of JN.1’s rise is undeniably bad, but there is some good news. Leading health authorities, including the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says there’s no indication that JN.1 causes more severe disease than prior variants. Existing tests, treatments, and vaccines—including the latest COVID-19 booster shot, which was released a few months ago—are also expected to work against it.

In short, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to panic about JN.1. But its emergence is a reminder that the virus is still with us, and still worth avoiding if at all possible. Masks, vaccines, and ventilation will be important tools this holiday season.

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The pervasive biases faced by pregnant Black women

Giving birth in the U.S. remains a fraught experience for Black women, who continue to face bias, discrimination, and suboptimal prenatal and maternity care that is killing them at twice to three times the rate of white pregnant women. In this New York Times story, Roni Caryn Rabin delves into the reasons why Black women are more likely to have worse pregnancy outcomes because of long-standing biases and prejudices embedded in our medical and social systems, and how some health centers are attempting to address these discrepancies with specialized training.

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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and Alice Park and edited by Oliver Staley.