Unusually political for HN, surprised this hasn't been modded away already.

My uninformed prediction for blue urban areas: by July, 90% of businesses will let unmasked people in. The number of people wearing masks outside will drop to 30%, but not lower than that for a long time.

>I said “You believed them when they told you it would be 14 days to flatten the curve and then you could go back to normal. You believed them when they said if people would wear masks for a couple of months that would end coronaplague. You believed them when they told you we just needed one more shutdown. Now you believe them when they say that the restrictions will end once everyone is vaccinated?”

Whoever this "they" was, who was saying that two weeks of lockdown would end the pandemic, was certainly not a medical authority. The word from authorities was always "we don't know yet," and the idea that we were lied to about the length of restrictions is just an uninformed complaint from social media. It was never a secret that this was unknown territory.

And this "they" is not the group now saying that vaccines will help curb virus spread and end the pandemic -- that's doctors and scientists, with qualifications.

Interesting ideas in the article. Could have been still interesting without the thinly veiled political jabs. Not everything has to be political. If we could have honest discussions around the idea of masking/vaccines/distancing/etc, maybe we could make progress. If we can stop playing into this polarizing game, we can begin to find common ground and take power away from those who gain from our division.