The policy choice to unmask

See this article by a senior White House correspondent. People are feeling comfortable to return to normal in large part because the CDC revised "its community spread guidelines in a way that tied risk levels to hospitalizations, not case rates." If infections appear to fall in some places--and they are certainly rising in others--it's likely more due to another CDC tactic: "At-home testing has almost certainly kept public health officials from learning the true extent of the current wave, since those results are not reported, as laboratory tests are." And yet transmission rates and hospitalizations are rising again despite the tactics.

It's all about the political costs. Mask and vaccine mandates are unpopular because many people are tired of them. But not many informed health-care workers are, who think indoor public masking is still necessary. The ill-informed and/or those in denial will vote against losing the 'personal freedom' of being forced back into them. Never mind that the cost to public health is severe. The Administration and CDC have decided that the "political cost of mandates has become unacceptably high" so they've influenced selfish attitudes to accept more suffering and death. That's the American spirit!

This CDC chart details "current 7-days is Wed Jun 01 2022 - Tue Jun 07 2022 for case rate and Mon May 30 2022 - Sun Jun 05 2022 for percent positivity. The percent change in counties at each level of transmission is the absolute change compared to the previous 7-day period."