The BA.5 wave

The most transmissible Omicron variant yet, BA.5, is causing a fresh wave of cases, reinfections and hospitalizations across the country. Some are calling this the “invisible wave” because it’s not registering in some of the metrics we use to track the disease.

For example, the daily number of reported cases in the U.S. has remained steady at around 100,000 since mid-May, but experts say that number is an undercount because so many people are testing at home.

The C.D.C. estimated yesterday that the subvariant now accounts for more than 60 percent of all new infections in the country. Experts say it appears able to evade some antibodies from previous infections and vaccines, though they say there is no evidence it causes more severe disease.

In New York City, the subvariant has helped push the test positivity rate to 15 percent, a level not seen since January, and hospitalizations are on the rise. Still, people in the city — and across the nation — are greeting the latest wave with a collective shrug.

Many Americans have turned their attention away from the pandemic. Mask mandates have been dropped in many states and cities, and most travelers no longer wear masks. To combat the latest wave, federal officials are considering expanding eligibility for second coronavirus booster shots to adults younger than 50, according to several people familiar with the thinking. But the decision will need to be made by the F.D.A. and the C.D.C.

On a personal note, this latest wave hit home.

I recently tested positive for Covid for the first time and spent a few days horizontal on the couch. It felt strange to experience a disease that I have covered for years. With a fever and pain in my chest, the anxieties that have been familiar to millions of Americans washed over me: How much damage is this doing to my body? Did I infect anyone unknowingly? Will I have long Covid?

I have mostly recovered, with gratitude to a powerful vaccine and Instacart shoppers. But I’ve spent the last few days scrambling to prepare for another viral outbreak.

New York City yesterday released a new batch of 2,500 doses of Jynneos vaccine, the only vaccine developed for monkeypox. I tried to register for a shot, but the website almost immediately crashed.

The blank screen and error message felt like an encapsulation of the country’s shortfalls in fighting the new outbreak. Monkeypox vaccines are in extremely short supply and will be for months. Tests will not be ready until sometime this month despite an outbreak that has been going on for weeks. Case counts — currently 929 in the U.S. — are almost certainly an undercount because our surveillance is uneven, at best. In many ways, it feels as if we’re repeating our mistakes from the coronavirus pandemic.

After 40 minutes refreshing the vaccine website, I finally managed to get an appointment. I stood in line today for more than an hour waiting for a shot.

Double masking at the clinic, as a sixth wave of Covid hits New York, getting a monkeypox vaccine, felt … surreal. But I also felt privileged to have access to the vaccine, despite the shortcomings of the rollout.

As monkeypox spreads, we at the Coronavirus newsletter will be keeping a close eye on both outbreaks — and seeing if the response to one can inform the other.

The new outbreak also has us thinking about the lessons we learned (or did not) from the coronavirus pandemic, and how we will respond to future outbreaks of disease. So today we’re asking readers for the lessons they’ve learned, and their advice for surviving the next pandemic down below.

It afflicts an influential cohort of restaurateurs who own prestigious restaurants in the hearts of large cities that office workers have fled — along with their corporate expense accounts. And it comes as the cost of doing business, particularly in dense urban areas, is spiking.

Lunch reservations in the first four months of this year at restaurants with an average check of more than $50 were sharply lower than during the same period in 2019, according to OpenTable data. They fell in Washington (by 38 percent), New York City (38 percent), San Diego (42 percent), Philadelphia (54 percent) and Chicago (58 percent).

Instead, the restaurant lunch is thriving in less-fancy dining rooms across the country, particularly in the suburban and residential city neighborhoods where many Americans have worked during the pandemic.

The trend heightens concerns about the viability of independent restaurants in big cities, which are bulwarks against the homogenizing effect of corporate chains. Some are remaining closed for lunch, even as demand for dinner reservations returns. Many operators say rising costs and labor shortages make lower-priced lunch menus near-certain money losers.

“With this hybrid workday, is Wednesday the new Monday, or is Thursday the new Friday?” asked one San Francisco restaurateur who hasn’t brought back the midday meal. “If I can crack that code, I might have a chance.”

Lessons for the next pandemic

When we look back on the coronavirus pandemic, there have been so many mistakes. Leaders initially dismissed masking as a preventive measure, testing was a total mess, and doctors and nurses spent months without the tools they needed to combat the disease.

At the same time, we have learned a lot about how to survive a plague. With that in mind, The New York Times is collecting advice from readers for the next pandemic.

We’re asking: What do you wish you had known at the outset? What would you have done differently? And what advice would you have for future generations who might be about to experience a pandemic?

We’d love to hear your advice, no matter how big or small. If you’d like to participate, you can fill out this form here. We may use your response in an upcoming newsletter or other Times projects.

What else we’re following

What you’re doing

I am a molecular technician at one of the largest Covid-19 testing laboratories in the country. We can see when cases are starting to climb again, and it can be scary to compare that to what the world around us looks like — people going to clubs, traveling, dating without social distancing. Covid-19 has not gone away, people just care about it less. I have only slightly loosened my “bubble” since the early days of quarantine. I completely stopped dating, because so many men are unwilling to follow even the most basic precautions on a first date. I still mask up in stores. I do not travel by air anymore. I am fully vaccinated, and test myself often. All these precautions, and I still got Covid this year. I’m scared that it’s going to take a particular virulent, deadly variant before people start taking this seriously again.

— Rowan Day, Bellingham, Wash.

Let us know how you’re dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

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Thanks for reading. I’ll be back Friday — Jonathan

Email your thoughts to briefing@nytimes.com.