After a year of watching a lot of people not do that, I am not particularly optimistic.

After a year of watching people do that and curves still going up, I am not particularly optimistic either.

Well we are dumb. But We need to hold the line.

I think it's pretty clear that some combination of mask wearing, case tracing, and social distancing can absolutely clamp down on this disease, as we've seen in Southeast Asia. I also think it's pretty clear that patience for such things in America is at an end, and compliance will be low even if the new variant continues to kill.

Not just America but Europe, too. Several health ministers have openly said that their populations are tired of restrictions and no longer observing them. Of course health ministers keep pushing for new restrictions regardless, because their job performance is mainly judged on how proactive they look, not whether those restrictions actually prove effective.

We can’t afford to be tired. Nonsense.

The past year has taught me that this type of comment is generally anti-measures, so I am asking you this: do you think that letting it run loose through the population is a decent approach?

I was not being sarcastic.