but we have to put that in a little bit of different context. instead of saying cases are dropping, let's change that headline, and say two years into the pandemic we are still reaching record high covid cases, and record high deaths, and record high hospitalizations. things are getting better, but they're not where they need to be. >> so do you think new york state should be, you know, relaxing its mask mandate, or getting rid of it, do you think places where there's low transmission should be getting rid of masks? >> i think the colder it is outside the more layers of clothes you should have on. right now, don, we're in a blizzard of covid-19, and it's not time to take off your coat. >> all right. got cha. has the white house and the cdc dropped the ball here, you think, should they have laid out a standardized criteria for ditching masks or anticipated states wanting to do this now that the omicron surge has rolled through? >> the anticipation, absolutely, should have been there.