Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.SPENCER PLATT / GETTYThis spring, the U.S. effectively paused its economy in order to buy its medical system some time in the fight against the coronavirus. But the country squandered the moment, failing to get the virus under control—and likely lengthening the economic drought.

On this episode of the podcast Social Distance, the staff writer James Hamblin and the executive producer Katherine Wells discuss the perils of air travel and the best ways to prepare for it.Listen here:Subscribe to Social Distance on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or another podcast platform to receive new episodes as soon as they’re published.What follows is an edited and condensed transcript of their conversation.

As people worldwide adapt to living with the threat of COVID-19, and especially as the rate of new cases continues to grow in the United States, the wearing of face masks remains widely recommended, and in many places, mandatory. A century ago, an outbreak of influenza spread rapidly across the world, killing more than 50 million—and possibly as many as 100 million—people within 15 months.

When some presidents leave office, politicians and political thinkers jockey to be their intellectual heirs. Even Ronald Reagan, a Republican, claimed the legacy of John F. Kennedy. Even Barack Obama, a Democrat, claimed the legacy of Reagan.If Donald Trump loses this fall, few will be in a hurry to claim his legacy. Commentators on the left and in the center—and even some on the right—will compete instead to tar their foes with it.