NPR: CDC’s new COVID metrics can leave individuals struggling to understand their risk

From NPR: Some experts do see the new CDC metrics as a sensible shift toward living with the virus – recognizing that many Americans have no tolerance left for mandates and restrictions. “This is a transition that happens for all public health conditions in some way, a balance between collective responsibility and individual responsibility,” argues Dr. Jay Varma, who directs the Weill Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response and has advised former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Ultimately, he says, public health decisions are made at the local level, not by federal agencies, he says, so the CDC guidance should “represent the floor, not the ceiling on pandemic prevention.” And says Alison Buttenheim, an associate professor of health policy and nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, the guidance is easy to take in. “I think the CDC is responding to an appetite from the American public for something very, very simple that allows me to stay as close to my regular or normal life as possible,” she says. Read more in NPR.