Pandemic science

"The pandemic revealed to us, over and over, the messy, fitful work of science. Hopefully anyone who once satisfiedly intoned, “I believe science,” now sees that science is not a monolith but a process. And this year we watched that process with unprecedented scrutiny—not “we” the science writers, but “we” the public, “we” the people desperate for news and information and, most of all, guidance. We were told to wash our hands, and then told that surface transmission was minimal. We were told that masks were unnecessary, and then that they were our most essential defense, and then that to wear them outside was more deference to politics than public health. None of these changes and reconsiderations meant that science had failed us. Science, to the extent that it’s a cohesive entity, was simply doing its job—gathering evidence, testing theories, refining our understanding of the world."

"The Best American Science And Nature Writing 2021" by Jaime Green, Ed Yong: https://a.co/dwPdfWl