Changes inworks to bring you an even better paper

You’ll notice a change in today’s Express-News — for the first time in seven months, there is no COVID-19 special section.

Don’t worry — we’re not reducing our coverage of the coronavirus. Far from it. We’re making changes to reflect the current state of the pandemic and to bring you the most complete and compelling newspaper we can.

When we launched the Sunday COVID-19 section in March, the pandemic was just beginning. Today, the virus still is with us, but its spread in the community has slowed, and many schools, businesses and other institutions have reopened with restrictions. People have adapted to the new normal, reducing the need for a weekly primer.

We’ll continue to make the pandemic a top priority. You’ll find news, explanatory and investigative stories on COVID-19 on the front page and inside the Main News section. And we’ll continue to publish a full page of coronavirus maps, charts and statistics every day.

Phasing out the Sunday coronavirus section frees resources for improvements elsewhere in the paper that you’ll see in the coming weeks.

When sports leagues went on hiatus last spring and restaurants, museums and entertainment venues closed, we combined Sports and S.A. Life into a single section six days a week.

Starting Thursday, Oct. 15, Sports will return as a separate section every day, bringing you award-winning coverage of high school, college and pro football, the Major League Baseball playoffs, the Spurs and more.

S.A. Life will return as a freestanding section that same day. It will be different, however, and better.

We’re relaunching our food, lifestyle and entertainment content on a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule, creating more robust sections on each of those days.

Thursday’s S.A. Life will focus on travel, Friday’s on arts, entertainment and event listings. Saturday will showcase all things home and garden. The Sunday section will feature expanded health coverage; recipes, reviews and other food content from our award-winning Taste team; the Faith pages; and more space devoted to books.

We’ll continue to publish all your favorite advice columnists, comics and puzzles. They’ll appear in S.A. Life Thursday through Sunday and in Sports on the other days.

You’ll be hearing more about these changes as we get closer to the relaunch.

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