“Increases in both daily death rates and Covid cases and deaths slowed significantly within 20 days of putting mask mandates into place, and protective effective mask mandates grew stronger over time. In contrast, increases in daily death rates of Covid-19 cases and deaths grew more quickly within 40 to 80 days, following restaurants being allowed to resume on-premises dining.” “It may seem tempting in the face of all of this progress to try to rush back to normalcy as if the virus is in the rearview mirror. It’s not. Now, years of watching football on TV has shown me that it’s better to spike the football once you’re safely in the end zone, not after you’ve made a couple of completions.”