“So I no longer care what the CDC has to say about anything“
But that’s beside the point. What “the CDC says” does not alter reality. Either release from restrictions will produce bad results or it won’t.
If it does, the political consequences will be bad, not because of what the media says, or what the CDC says, but because of what happens on the ground.
As I’ve said before, the probability of disaster after “opening” is <50%. But it certainly isn’t zero.
What about the economic impact? Spiritual impact? National financial collapse causes millions of deaths historically. Not 10s of thousands. Sure, 80 year olds catching a bad virus is bad. But we do have medicines that can reduce the danger of the virus like HCL, Quinine, etc.