When Dan Diamond wakes up in the morning, he has a little routine.

He plays the New York Times spelling, be on his phone to warm up his brain.

Then he checks the Washington Post, that's where he works, covering healthcare policy.

But after I do those things, I do look at the CDC vaccine data page on how the rollout

is doing.

And I try and keep an eye on a few different indicators of the case count, too.

And right now, it feels like the pandemic isn't a delicate place.

The pace of vaccinations is ramping up, but so are new cases, as the CDC director said.

We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and

so much reason for hope, but right now I'm scared.

And I was trying to figure out, is that a reasonable position?

Is she as a new official, maybe speaking off the cuff in a way that the White House didn't

support?

And everyone I talked to said, no, this is fair, this is accurate.

We have seen great progress over the past two months, or now at a moment where that progress

could get blown up, if the cases keep going up, and the protections keep being rolled back.

As I talked to Dan, I thought about my Monday morning when I went to a mass vaccination

site in Brooklyn to get my first shot.

I was really hopeful, standing in line in the cold with all sorts of other New Yorkers,

like we were all doing our part together.

And then I had this thought as I was sitting there in the observation area after my shot,

like how in the world do we keep track of all these people?

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