I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Tuesday, March 30th.

You could be forgiven for having some cognitive dissonance this morning about where we are in the fight against COVID.

Vaccine supply is increasing. Anyone over 30 becomes eligible in New York today. New Jersey

added food service workers and others yesterday. And things are reopening. Opening day at Yankee

Stadium is coming Thursday, City Field next week, with around 10,000 fans to be allowed at each game.

They're already having fans at the basketball and hockey arenas.

Mayor de Blasio announced a plan to bring city workers back to their offices in May, shows back to Broadway in September,

and he's urging tourists to return to New York.

Ready for the crowds?

Governor Cuomo has created a digital vaccine passport to get you into things, hopefully decreasing anyone's risk

inside entertainment venues. We'll describe the pros and cons of the vaccine passport in a minute.

But amid all this, excuse me, cases are rising nationally and locally

faster than at any time since October, which is when the last big surge began. And similar to

the rise in Europe, just before the really big surge with new lockdowns that they're in right now.

Now, Europe is having more trouble than us with the vaccine rollout, so it's not entirely

apples to apples.

But cases and hospitalizations here are going up, not down.

More deaths are likely to follow shortly.

Here is the Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walenski yesterday. She appeared to be fighting

back tears. Now is one of those times when I have to share the truth and I have to hope and trust

you will listen. I'm going to pause here. I'm going to lose the script and I'm going to reflect on the

recurring feeling I have of

...