Say goodbye to cloth masks. Say hello to tight-fitting surgical masks or even N95s. | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Health experts say you should avoid optional trips whenever you can. You probably need a better mask, too.

Recent developments in the Covid-19 pandemic have exposed a grim reality: If we keep doing what we’re doing now to prevent infections, we’re screwed. Well, even more screwed.

That’s because the virus appears to be getting even better at infecting us. Since at least December, new, more contagious variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 have been outcompeting earlier versions of the virus in countries as far and wide as Brazil, the UK, and South Africa.

The advantage the new variants carry seems to be that in any given situation where people are gathered, they’ll infect more people — an estimated 30 to