The pandemic is over. If you notice no one's wearing masks, everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.

I no longer think infections generally should be the major metric. We really have to focus on

hospitalizations and deaths now. We're not going to eradicate this. Sooner or later, as we begin to live

with it, virtually everybody is going to wind up getting exposed and likely get infected.

The scarlet letter of this pandemic is the mask. It's inconvenient, it's annoying, and it reminds us

that we're in the middle of a pandemic. So the question becomes, is it rational to disrupt our

lives in all these big and consequential waves? At what point do the costs of pandemic precautions outweigh the benefits?

Six former administration officials last week wrote that open letter,

urging the administration to change course, to change strategy.

Is it time?

It is time for us to do what we have been doing and that time is every day.

The time is every day. Welcome to the death panel.

Patrons, thank you so much for supporting the show.

We couldn't do any of this without you.

It's been a really long year, and we've done a lot of amazing coverage.

None of that would have been possible without your support.

If you're listening to this and you're not a patron, then consider supporting the show at patreon.com slash death panel pod. You'll get access to our second

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underscore.

So today is going to be a kind of look back at the last year.

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