<em>The Atlantic Daily</em>: A Time for Consequences

Last week, “the District had no real voice in the Capitol and no real autonomy to defend its own streets without federal approval,” Hannah Giorgis writes.

One question, answered: If my loved one is vaccinated, do I need to take precautions when seeing them?

Sarah Zhang, a staff writer who has been covering the vaccine rollout, weighs in:

We know that the vaccine is extremely good at preventing people from getting sick, but we don’t yet know exactly how well it prevents people from spreading the virus without feeling symptoms. That’s likely to some degree, but until we have clear data in the coming months, you should consider your specific situation and risk tolerance.

If, for example, your loved one is a health-care worker constantly exposed to COVID-19 and you’re immunocompromised, that scenario might require more precautions than if you are both young and healthy and have very low exposure to the virus. Think of the vaccine less as a silver bullet and more like another slice of Swiss cheese. Each slice—social distancing, masks, vaccine—is imperfect on its own, but adding another slice onto a stack reduces some risk.

Revisit Sarah’s piece on what to expect from this period of vaccine purgatory.

Tonight’s Atlantic-approved isolation activity:

Unwind with a new piece of fiction: Read Lauren Oyler’s “Discovery,” a short story about a woman who snoops on her boyfriend’s phone. Then, check out our Q&A with the author on her process.

Today’s break from the news:

The Olympic runner Alexi Pappas argues that female athletes need to see puberty as a power, not a weakness.

Thanks for reading. This email was written by Caroline Mimbs Nyce.

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Caroline Mimbs Nyce is a senior associate editor at The Atlantic.