Granted, many unvaccinated people, particularly Black and Latino Americans, are leery of the shots because of the government’s poor track record when it comes to their communities’ health. But whatever the reasons people may have for not getting vaccinated, we need to move them out of their comfort zones for the sake of their own safety — and ours.

The new COVID-19 rules prompted a predictable backlash from those who insist the Constitution gives them the freedom to infect others. (It doesn’t; witness the Supreme Court decision in 1905 declaring that states could mandate smallpox vaccinations.) We have little patience with the knee-jerk naysayers who label every new pandemic policy a governmental overreach. What exactly would the government gain by asking people to put cloth over their faces to save their own lives? In what bizarro world is it an abuse of power to give people the choice of taking a free, life-saving medication or doing preventive testing to prove they aren’t infectious?

Mask mandates and recommendations are returning as well — at least in places that haven’t banned them. Los Angeles County reinstated its mandate for indoor settings earlier this month. After growing pressure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course on Tuesday and issued new guidance recommending indoor mask wearing for everyone in areas with high COVID-19 infection rates, which includes about two-thirds of U.S. counties.