I'm not in either camp, except I think both Dr. Fauci and the CDC could have more consistent/clear in their messaging all along, including now.
Two weeks ago, the CDC director was on the air talking about the dangers of the new variants, and how we all needed to keep wearing masks. To me, it sounded too much like Chicken Little. The most recent announcement feels inconsistent.
In my view, public messaging needs to be clear, relatively simple, but ALSO- and this is the key part- the public needs to know the objective. Why is the public being asked to do something?
In my view, a better approach would have been to set a clear goal and clear benchmarks, and how close we were getting to those benchmarks. A better message, in my view, would have been two part. this is just a sample of the type of message they could have said, not actual specific numbers:
We will be able to begin relax the mask mandate - be degrees- when we reach two critical benchmarks:
A. 65% of the population is vaccinated (or some other number)
AND
B. We see national case numbers drop below 10 per 100,000 population. (or some other number).
Please do your part to help us get to these benchmarks, because we are in this together. We are all on the same team.
C. It also feels weird to me that this was relaxed less than a week after 12-15 year olds became eligible to be vaccinated. Relaxing the mask mandate sends a message that 12-15 year olds - as people- do not matter. To me, it would have been better to give that age group a minimum of 2 weeks to get shot #1/partial vaccination.
I think the message would have been all around much stronger if the CDC's message had been more inclusive. It was a missed opportunity, because the message could have been done in such a way that it would have encouraged 12-15 year old to be part of the solution! The message could have been something like WHEN we get 50% of teens vaccinated, then we'll reach our goal of having 65% of the population vaccinated. We are SO close! Help us reach our goal!
And just....well..12-15 years olds are VERY effective at persuaders. Every vaccinated teen has the ability to talk their parents into getting vaccinated. Eager to-be-vaccinated year-olds vs. scared-of-a-little-needle adults.
We could have had a positive message out of this as a way to incentivize reluctant adults.
is out of the barn. And.... its all about getting those dollars back now. Work for a large corporation. It's all about the stockholders.