| The coronavirus is both a medical problem and a public-health problem – that's baked into its biology. But the pandemic in the U.S. has been exacerbated by another challenge of our own making: a pervasive atmosphere of distrust where misinformation about the virus flourishes, sometimes amplified by the man with the country's loudest megaphone, President Donald Trump. That crisis of information has made the practice of medicine, already challenging in a pandemic, more difficult. Doctors have faced patients who believe the virus is a hoax, disregard simple safety measures like face coverings, and, sometimes, go on to catch and spread Covid-19. "The ones who had sort of succumbed to the misinformation have been very difficult to treat medically," Michigan family physician Farhan Bhatti says. "Conspiracy theories and misinformation about science did exist before Covid, but they're more deadly now."  Farhan Bhatti outside his clinic in Lansing, Michigan Photographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg Information shapes behavior, which in turn affects who may be exposed to the virus or expose others. Bhatti has seen patients who come around to safeguards only after they or their loved ones have fallen ill. (Former New Jersey governor and Trump adviser Chris Christie had a such a conversion after his own bout with Covid led to a stay in intensive care, as did British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.) Divisions in society and a dearth of trust might contribute to the virus's spread even once a vaccine becomes available. As the development of the shots has become politicized, surveys from Gallup show that willingness to take a coronavirus vaccine has declined in recent months. Humans can't change the biology of the virus. But we are responsible for the social factors that affect how it spreads.—John Tozzi | 
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