IT ENDS WHEN THE NEW CLASS FEELS IT HAS CONSOLIDATED ITS POWER SUFFICIENTLY, WHICH IS NEVER: When Does It End?

Sen. Rand Paul and top Biden adviser Anthony Fauci had a spat on Thursday over masks, vaccination, and reinfection. Partisans of both sides claimed victory, but the public lost because they never addressed the underlying question:

When does this all end?

Fauci seemed to argue that no amount of vaccine uptake can free us from the need to wear masks, pointing to coronavirus variants. A day earlier, reporters on Twitter assailed conservative writer Noah Rothman for suggesting that once fully vaccinated, he’ll shed his mask and live a normal life. “Your vaccine may not protect others,” they warned, believing that we must assume every bad possibility until science disproves it. . . .

Lockdowns, distancing requirements, and mask mandates need to end as soon as possible. That doesn’t mean today. It doesn’t mean tomorrow. But it means at some point.

Our leaders and health experts have a duty to articulate, right away, standards of when these should end.

Fauci, President Biden, every governor, every mayor, and every county executive who is still enforcing lockdown measures should say, “I will lift them when …”

Lockdowns should end now. Even W.H.O. says they’re never justified except as a short-term measure when medical facilities are overwhelmed, which they’re not and really never have been.

Oh, the other time it can end is when the public simply stops complying, which seems to be starting to happen.