Apoorva Mandavilli took on a daunting task in 2020: explaining to readers, in real time, the nature of a virus that, so far, has killed 2 million people and infected 100 million around the globe. How did it spread? Who was vulnerable? Exactly how contagious was the pathogen? How did it attack the body, and how did the immune system respond?
In scores of articles over the year, Mandavilli tracked the evolving science, translating difficult and uncertain research into actionable journalism that changed daily life for readers and often had an impact on public policy. Her reporting on infection and immunity in children prompted a national discussion, still continuing, about when schools should be open and under what circumstances.
Mandavilli vigorously pursued research showing that aerosol transmission of the virus was far more important than surface transmission, and that asymptomatic infection was not just possible but frequent. Those findings had far-reaching consequences, forcing a recognition at both the WHO and the CDC that scientists had underestimated the utility of masks and the hazards of indoor settings like restaurants and bars.
Mandavilli detailed the political interference that led the CDC to publish scientifically questionable advice on testing, demonstrating that guidance appearing on the agency’s website had in fact been written by officials at HHS in Washington and published over the objections of CDC scientists. It marked a signal, and incriminating instance, of the Trump administration’s misappropriation of scientific evidence.
Mandavilli did not limit her coverage to the pandemic itself. In one important piece, she also surveyed its consequences for the containment of tuberculosis in poor countries, finding that one epidemic seemed likely to yield another. The breadth of her coverage over the year was remarkable.