I agree with the general idea here, but I'd like to take it in a slightly different direction.

*Even if* restaurants are not *major* spreaders, they are spreaders, because restaurants increase "pod connectivity." 1/ https://twitter.com/trumwill/status/1329439878875144194

"Pod connectivity" is why things like "opening the pools" or whatever that various right-wing commentators were blathering on about in the summer is a bad idea.

Pods need to be self-contained as much as possible. Limit inter-pod connectivity, and you stop the spread. 2/

Even if *most* infections happen in the home, if there's no introduction of an infection into a pod, there will be no home infections. Zero times anything is zero. 3/

There is an argument for keeping schools closed under the same theory. But I think it's weaker than keeping restaurants closed. It's also much weaker than the argument for keeping high school sports closed. 4/

The reason we are having a very bad winter is because we did not take advantage of the summer to get case counts down, and we have not done enough to limit pod connectivity. We are trying to have a semblance of normality instead of accepting "wartime footing." 5/

We'll be better prepared for the next pandemic but the costs of getting there are astronomical. 6/6

Addendum: everyone who has covid now has caught it as the end of a chain of... at least 25 infections by now. If *one* person had broken the chain they would not be sick.