Air-Borne
Carl Zimmer
Dutton, $32
On March 10, 2020, 61 choir members rehearsed in a church hall in Skagit County, Wash. As they sang, a microscopic germ wafted through the air. Before the month’s end, 58 members were infected and five fell gravely ill. Across the United States, the virus wreaked havoc. Within weeks, thousands of people died, schools and businesses shuttered and 700,000 people lost their jobs.
Many scientists determined in 2020 that the coronavirus spread through the air, but it would take public health agencies months longer to acknowledge that. The Skagit County superspreader event helped the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention