The immunity gap is real. But the risks early on far outweighed the need to protect children until vaccines were readily available and administered, overall hospitalizations had declined and schools had put in place new measures to prevent infection. Once that happened, parents felt much safer sending children back to school and daycare, regardless of party affiliation.

Unfortunately republicans were pushing to reopen in person learning and daycare before vaccines, before the health care systems had stabilized and before they school systems had adequate staffing and safety measures. So with regard to timing, they were not right. And that was a very real problem.