Americans Want To Go Back To Normal, But 'Normal' Is What Got Us Here

After rising for weeks, the rate of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has started to level off. But now, just as we saw in the spring, the country is facing a spike in deaths.

In the new issue of The Atlantic,two stories share the cover. One, by Ed Yong, is about the pandemic. The other, by Ibram Kendi, is about racism in America. Both ask the same question: how did it come to this?

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This episode was produced by Lee Hale and Brent Baughman. It was edited by Sami Yenigun and Beth Donovan with fact-checking from Anne Li. Our executive producer is Cara Tallo.