I understand the impulse to reveal truths selectively in order to guide people to the correct short-term action. I think it's incredibly dangerous, though. That

I understand the impulse to reveal truths selectively in order to guide people to the correct short-term action. I think it's incredibly dangerous, though. That's basically what policymakers did early in the pandemic when they advised Americans that masks were ineffective. Perhaps they got their short-term action, conserving scarce masks for medical workers; but now the shortage is over, and people (a) still aren't wearing masks, and (b) have lost considerable faith in the public health authorities in general. Hard to judge, but I suspect their noble lie saved hundreds of medical workers or patients at most, and will kill tens of thousands of Americans over the next year. Those policymakers were trained professionals, so I doubt I'm any better at picking and choosing what truths should be spoken. So especially in a forum of moderately sophisticated readers, I'm not inclined to limit myself. I understand that may sometimes superficially look like things people often say in bad faith, but I hope readers expend the effort to distinguish. In any case, I certainly agree that the coronavirus has tremendous societal and economic cost independent of the mitigations. That doesn't mean we still can't make it worse, though. I'm perhaps more optimistic than you are that Americans can do the right thing after exhausting all other possibilities, and actually wear masks properly and cooperate with other mitigations short of lockdown, with the right (perhaps coercive) guidance. I hope you weren't too close to the earthquake, continuing the apocalypse bingo.