COVID19: Transportation and Mitigation Off-Ramps

FLY ONCE AGAIN ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS. KATE. >> ADRIEN, THANK YOU. AND NOW, JOINING US FROM JOHN HOPKINS, YOU HAVE UBER, AND LYFT JOINING IN MAKING THE MASKS OPTIONAL, AND IS IT THE RIGHT TIME? >> I AM NOT SO CONCERNED ABOUT THE TIME, BECAUSE IT WAS SET TO EXPIRE IN TWO WEEKS ANYWAY, SO WE ARE ARGUING ABOUT A SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME, SO LOOKING AT THE TRANSPORTATION IN GENERAL, MANY PEOPLE ARE DOING THING WITHOUT A MASK THAT ARE MUCH MORE DANGEROUS SUCH AS GOING TO THE BAR AND CONCERTS AND GATHERING WITH FRIENDS THAT ARE MUCH MORE PARADOXICAL, AND SO THIS IS ONE PLACE WHERE THE GOVERNMENT KEPT IT IN PLACE WHERE OTHER PLACES ARE MASK-FREE. >> IT IS WHERE IT WAS SYMBOLIC OF THE RULES THAT BEGAN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC. YOU BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE NEED FOR, OR THE NEED TO HAVE OFF-RAMPS FOR COVID MITIGATION, AND WHERE DO YOU TALK ABOUT THIS COVID MASK MANDATE ON OR OFF IN OTHERS? >> THE OFF RAMPS ARE FOR THE METRICS OF THE HOSPITAL CAPACITIES. IF WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE EARLY DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC, THEN WE WILL TALK ABOUT THE IMPETUS OF THIS. BUT WHEN YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE DECOUPLING, THE CASES ARE UP, BUT THE DEATHS ARE FALLING, THAT IS EXACTLY WHERE WE WANT TO BE WITH THIS VIRUS, BECAUSE IT IS NO GOING TO BE ERADICATED OR LIMITED, AND GO BACK TO 2019 TO BE PRE-PANDEMIC WORLD, BUT IF WE CAN MANAGE IT WITH ANTIMONOCLONALS, AND YOU CAN HAVE TREATMENTS RATHER THAN GOVERNMENT-ISSUED EDICTS WHICH ARE POLITICIZED AND OFTEN GET PEOPLE NOT TO COMPLY, BECAUSE IT IS COMING FROM THE GOVERNMENT. >> I WANTED TO ASK YOU, BECAUSE THE WHITE HOUSE HAS A DIFFERENT TAKE, BECAUSE THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAYS IT IS GOING TO APPEAL THIS RULING IF THE CDC SAYS IT IS NECESSARY, AND THIS IS WHERE THE TIMING OF WHERE TWO WEEKS BEFORE IT EXPIRES IS COMING INTO PLAY, BUT YOU HAVE TO NEW WHITE HOUSE LEAD ON COVID, AND HE CALLED THE JUDGE'S DECISION DEEPLY DISAPPOINTING, AND ALSO SAYING, AND WRITING THIS, THE CDC SCIENTISTS HAD ASKED FOR 15 DAYS TO MAKE A MORE DATA-DRIVEN DURABLE DECISION, AND WE SHOULD HAVE GIVEN IT TO THEM, AND IS HE WRONG? >> I DON'T NECESSARILY THINK HE IS WRONG, BUT IT IS UNCLEAR WHAT WOULD HAVE CHANGED IN 15 DAYS. WE KNOW THAT BA.2 IS GOING TO INCREASE, AND IT IS UNLIKELY TO SEE THE HOSPITALS GET INTO ANY PROBLEM IN 15 DAYS, BECAUSE OF THE DECOUPLING THAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT, AND SO I AM NOT SURE WHAT THEY WERE TRYING TO ANSWER IN 15 DAYS AND MAYBE BUY SOME TIME, BUT IT IS NOT THAT DIFFERENCE OF THE MASK MANDATE LIFTED YESTERDAY OR MAY 3rd AS SCHEDULED. I DON'T THINK THAT THINGS WILL BE APPRECIABLY CHANGING IN 15 DAY, SO I AM A LITTLE IN THE DARK OF WHAT IS GOING TO CHANGE. >> IT IS A GOOD POINT. I TALKED TO DR. SANJAY GUPTA ABOUT THAT AND HE CAUTIONED AND REMINDED ME THAT WE WERE BLINDSIDE WHEN THE DELTA HIT LAST SUMMER, AND THE COUNTRY WAS STARTING THE OFF RAMP IF YOU WILL, AND DO YOU THINK THAT DROPPING THE MAXES IS GIVING THE PEOPLE THE FALSE SENSE OF THE SECURITY AGAINST THE NEXT VARIANT? >> WE ARE ALWAYS GOING TO HAVE THREATS OF THE NEXT VARIANT, BUT IT IS NOT GOING TO ERASE ALL OF THE PROTECTION THAT THE MEDICAL COUNTER MEASURES WILL GIVE US, AND THIS IS ONE SMALL PART OF LIFE WHERE THE MANDATES EXIST. EVERYTHING ELSE DOES NOT HAVE A MASK, SO IF WE ARE GOING TO BE BLINDSIDED AND IF ANOTHER VARIANT IS GOING TO TAKEOVER, IT IS NOT USING AIRPLANES AND PLANES AND BUS, BUT IT