Doom and Gloom?

 Yesterday afternoon, on MSNBC's Deadline White House, frequent guest Dr. Peter Hotez expressed the opinion that the CDC had dropped the guidelines for mask wearing by vaccinated people too soon, saying there were still too many places where the number of vaccinated was too low and the case count too high.

It worries me when people of his stature contradict or criticize the CDC. It worries me because it gives the COVID-deniers and anti-vaxxers ammunition for their claims that either the experts don't know anything or that the while thing is overblown. It also, I think, discourages those who might be on the fence from getting vaccinated.

Furthermore, it encourages those who are not vaccinated to go ahead and blatantly ignore the calls to continue to mask up until they do get the shot. And it makes it more difficult for businesses who want to open up to the vaccinated...which is the only way we're going to get out of this.

I have friends--fully vaccinated friends--who are still hunkering down in their homes, getting everything delivered, and wearing masks outside even when only walking to the edge of their own property (to pick up the mail or put out the trash). I worry about their long-term mental health in that kind of seclusion, especially if they take the opinions of experts like Dr. Hotez to heart and are still isolating themselves long after the danger is past.