Living the Life Pandemic

The first part of 2022 is giving us a glimpse of humanity’s future relationship with COVID-19.

Written byBob Grant

| 4 min read

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In late November 2021, The Scientist’s editorial team convened to discuss mounting case reports, coming mostly from South Africa, of patients infected with the newly described Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. We talked about this latest development in the COVID-19 pandemic, which we’ve been covering since before it was even called a pandemic, and how we might report on it. During that meeting, I expressed something to the effect of: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re not even talking about Omicron two weeks from now.” How wrong I turned out to be.

Here we are, well into a new year (the third of the COVID era), and the Omicron variant has washed over our pandemic-weary globe, adding to the case and body counts mounted by its viral predecessors. Hospitals around the world strained to treat COVID-19 patients in early 2022 while at the same time delivering much-needed, and in some cases ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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