What to expect

Why subscribe?

Force of Infection is a newsletter about what’s going around, including outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics. Whether you are immunocompromised, live with a chronic health condition, or don’t want to miss another day of work, my newsletter will equip you with information to help you stay well. Join 46,000+ readers in all 50 states who rely on my newsletter for actionable information to make informed decisions about their health and safety.

Summer Schedule

During summer months, we publish a weekly “weather report” of respiratory and stomach bug activity in the U.S. Also included are updates on food recalls and major developments in the news. This is only available to paid subscribers.

Winter Schedule

In the fall and winter, the weekly report is free for everyone. We gave early warning of the tripledemic (September!) and alerted readers to a surge in norovirus before it was in the news.

While on the winter schedule, paid subscribers get special access to regional newsletters that contain information specific to the Southern, Western, Northeastern, and Midwest regions. These regional reports have more detailed information about each state, so you can get a better sense of what is happening locally.

Year Round Deep Dives

Occasionally, we post a deep dive on an infectious disease topic. We have reflected on moving beyond the pandemic origins debate, missing pieces of the monkeypox (mpox) response, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Why Readers Stay

Paid subscribers trust Force of Infection with an 85% annual retention rate, which is well above industry average. Readers in all 50 states have generated over 5 million page views, underscoring the demand for reliable, timely analysis about what’s going around.

Since 2022, We have published over 500 newsletters, building a track record of reliability no matter what's happening in the news cycle. Major outlets including NPR, Washington Post, Atlantic, Vox, and STAT News have cited the deep-dive essays, while early warnings about the tripledemic and the big flu season 2025-2026 reached readers before the typical news cycle.

Who Am I?

Force of Infection was founded by Dr. Caitlin Rivers. She is an epidemiologist and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she direct the Center for Outbreak Response Innovation. She have a PhD in epidemiology and an MPH in infectious diseases.

Her work focuses on the policies and practices needed to improve outbreak response and pandemic preparedness. She has had multiple roles in the Federal government, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she helped to found the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics.

Dr. Rivers has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Nature, and more. Her first book, Crisis Averted: The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks was published by Viking in 2024.

Sign up

If you want more news you can use about what’s going around in your region, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. By upgrading you’ll also be helping keep Force of Infection sustainable so we can help inform readers about “what’s going around.”