Chris,

Please pardon this novel. In my defense -- my peer group avoids this topic the way we avoid, well, SARS-CoV2 -- any variant...

I get it - suppression. But - UK opens as Delta doubles bi-weekly -- has to shut down. California and New York open; they ignore UK issues, drop precautions, and ignore UK's higher uptake. What gives? 1. The western policy seems almost Malthusian. Do they believe our batch Pfizer is better?

2. COVID was airborne for me in March 2020. It harmed no one and helped me—full face snorkel, N95 material over the breathing tube, dish gloves -- my first robust mask. Followed by Canada's O2 Curve, an asbestos respirator, one had its air supply. Six feet close, cloth masks? Idiotic. Leaving your house when they "reopened"? Also cray. CDC has not had the same policy for any three months. Droplets? What about separate rooms on cruise ships.

3. Zoonotic? Maybe. The idea that this could happen accidentally. Ok. Watching all the western countries misunderstand exponentials for a year. Ok. Sweden? Ok. Us, with 600,000 deaths?? Ok. That is one heck of a CRISPR-enabled piece of bat steak (joking).

3. Vaccine plus non-pharmaceutical intervention is the sweet spot. Hesitancy reminds me of the mask wars. Two people with useless pieces of cloth standing in an aerosol bath of the potential virus -- believing magic spit has a measuring stick and thus can kill you at five feet four inches. I'm not sure why anyone listens to Fauci. A cursory look at the past shows masking, distancing, and quarantining.

4. (I am nerding out over this -- clearly. This rant is a bit much. Pardon me. But thank you for clear thinking and outstanding research. I appreciate you for the work -- even the places when I said the other thing.)

Best,

Michael