Krieger’s first story on the pandemic, “What you need to know about the mysterious coronavirus,” came January 24, 2020, with a lead that read then almost as science fiction but today seems startlingly prescient: “Imagine fencing in every Californian.” Nearly 200 articles later, she has continued to stay ahead of the curve, through an approach eschewing the longer, more time-consuming stories that have characterized her career in favor of the breaking insights she believes readers need now. And what insights. Krieger understood early that one of the biggest challenges of COVID-19 was the large number of people who got it but never suffered or even showed symptoms; a memorable early April headline was “How sick will you get?” She foresaw the challenges inherent in vaccinating millions of people; in July, she wrote this paragraph, as if she had a crystal ball into breaking news six months later: “There’s a lot that can go wrong. The early vaccines are unlikely to provide full protection, so many of us may continue to be at risk. Because of limited supplies, there will be a phased rollout; not everyone who needs one will get one. Distrustful, some people may refuse to take them. And who’s in charge of our critical allocation decisions? There’s confusion – worrisome news, given the bungled distribution of tests, protective equipment and remdesivir, one the most-coveted COVID-19 drugs.” She has also written consistently about the almost-overlooked struggle to treat the disease, explaining in early December amid the hoopla over the vaccine rollout how research in therapeutics continues to get short shrift for funding and prioritization. As it becomes ever clearer that we will not leave coronavirus behind, amid mutating variants and vaccine mishaps, the problem resonates increasingly deeply.
