The COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen by most objective measures. We’re breaking records for cases, deaths, and hospitalizations on a regular basis, and many of our hospitals are operating at or near capacity. Further complicating the situation, scientists are tracking the “UK variant” that is more transmissible, and our vaccine distribution has fallen well short of expectations. Emergent problems in a deepening crisis, of course, make us vulnerable to knee-jerk reactions that distract us from the known path to getting the pandemic under control.