> SPINCO exclaimed in frustration, "We took all the measures public health offered, even added a few, and still the pandemic struck us again!'" People need to

> SPINCO exclaimed in frustration, "We took all the measures public health offered, even added a few, and still the pandemic struck us again!'" People need to realize that all of the measures and mitigations -- all of them -- are political. Social distancing, masks, staying at home, sanitizing, etc. will not protect anyone from getting the virus in an absolute sense. The only thing that would do that is to give everyone in the country an airtight suit and force them at gunpoint to wear it at all times. We all know that's impossible. So what follows is a negotiation between epidemiologists, the government, and the public, about what has the highest probability of moving the needle, what the government is logistically capable of doing, what the public will let them get away with. Scientific evidence may come into play on the epidemiology side of the equation, but it is not in any sense the deciding factor.