The difference between the two is obvious at this point. Governor Polis gives some weight to individual freedom. Governor Hochul is just looking at the stats.

Giving weight to freedom doesn’t mean discounting the science or expertise. Polis is just as quick as other Democratic governors to cite data showing that the vaccines are effective and that the vast majority of those hospitalized for Covid in his state are unvaccinated. But this means recognizing that the state has limited resources and that, at this point, those who do not want to get vaccinated are committed to that decision and would not change their views absent extremely punitive measures, which would be costly and would probably cost the governor some of his popular support.

But we need to ask Governor Hochul and others who share her approach: What other data do you need to see? We’ve seen that vaccine uptake in the United Kingdom led to a major change in the relationship of cases and deaths. Cases went up, but deaths didn’t follow at the previous rates, leading to a decoupling of cases from hospitalizations and deaths in the United Kingdom. So why shouldn’t we expect the same in the United States?