Geeat interview as always. I think the focus right now is to alleviate overwhelmed emergency rooms. The issue isn't cases per se, but how the enormous number of cases affects hospital availability. Once the surge is over in February, and anti-viral meds become more available in mid-2022, hospitalization rates will probably never be as high again because any variant that comes along will be stopped in its tracks by the anti-virals. I really think that by the spring masks should be totally voluntary and anyone who's vulnerable can always wear an N95 or KN95 mask, if they  want to.