Fear has a cost. Suicides easily outnumber COVID deaths in children 17 and under, who experienced a wave of isolation, anxiety and depression last year. One in three of our kids will meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder by adulthood. Maintaining a prolonged fear state is unhealthy for them, and it’s unhealthy for the rest of us too. It’s not possible to say that masking, social distancing and quarantines are necessary for our safety and not incur adverse consequences, because the message is that existing normally in the world is too dangerous. Learning loss is a very real harm to children, but California will impose 10-day quarantines from school and extracurricular activities for kids who aren’t even sick. People who already struggle in our economy lose their incomes when people are afraid, and poverty drives myriad negative health outcomes. All this because we won’t trumpet the great news that no COVID variant is more dangerous to children or vaccinated adults than the flu.

We have reached the point where further public health interventions are a net harm. Inflating risks and downplaying vaccine benefits doesn’t earn the trust of vaccine skeptics. The most compassionate thing to do is spread the good news that if the adults in your family are vaccinated, you’re already very safe. We have the data to move forward without fear. Imposing further costs will only do extra harm along the way.