Thread by @jmcrookston

Dear @j_g_allen,

I just had a chance to read this piece.

It's chock full of conclusions about safety and risk of the spread of COVID-19.

Can you lay out cost/benefit calculations for why ending masks before vaccinations, for ex? You just say risk is low in the piece.

Can you please let me know why you say everyone will catch delta? (Pic below)

This is an incorrect but commonly repeated idea. For example not everyone caught the 1918 flu. Nor measles (pre-vax). Or chickenpox, over a lifetime, now.

Thanks.

This part (pic) made no sense to me at all.

Can you describe what you mean by "reckless adults"? You are suggesting kids ought not pay for their transgressions, but who are they and what are they doing?

Or was this just loaded language?

Speaking of loaded language, you used the word "sleepwalk", suggesting that schools would just keep mask mandates without thinking. Has this been a concern anywhere? Or was this just as I suspect use of a term that would resonate with people who do not like masks?

You referred to the low rate of child hospitalization in two states. Can you explain why you chose those two states? Are they still so low?

How does the US current 0.2 / 100000 hospitalization rate for under 17s compare to other childhood diseases?

I could not find measles hospitalization, but could find pre-vax information of 500 deaths per year. No age restriction.

Compare with COVID, which killed more, just in the under 17s.

cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr…

So, since this is far worse than measles, and we vaccinate for that, why would we not wait until kids are vaccinated before dropping masks?

Thanks for your attention to these questions.