Put another way, the technocrats are still fixated on the 5 percent residual risk of exposure and transmission, rather than the 95 percent reduction in risk we are achieving through vaccination. The numbers support this optimistic "95 percent perspective." The number of new confirmed COVID cases has declined by 75 percent since the peak in January. Deaths and hospitalizations have declined by 80 percent. And the reproduction rate—the average number of new infections caused by one person—has fallen below one. That means transmission is moving toward zero. It's true that we may never get all the way to zero. But we don't have to. Expecting zero transmission is both unrealistic and unnecessary. We accept all manner of risks as the price of going about our daily lives. The flu kills tens of thousands of Americans each year. Car accidents claim about 40,000 lives annually. But most people don't shun social contact each flu season or refuse to drive.