- While the prospect of a semi-normal St. Patrick's Day was a source of joy for bar-goers, for public health experts, it's been a source of dread.

Harvard epidemiologist, Dr. William Hanage, says that for people like him, the lead up to the holiday has been like deja vu.

- Around this time last year, we were looking at packed bars, feeling real chills, horror, because we knew what the likely outcome would be.

The outcome was that huge surge of deaths.

- Hanage, says he thinks the Baker administration has been hasty in lifting some COVID restrictions, especially ahead of a holiday that's known for big gatherings and bad judgment.

He says he's worried that the state has sent mixed signals about what's safe and what's not.

- It's very difficult to keep and maintain clear messaging on this.

Gatherings are gonna continue to be risky until a sufficient fraction of the population are vaccinated.

- Hanage says that local capacity limits, like those in Somerville, are better than nothing, but continued vigilance, especially with new variants afoot, is just as important as ever.

- We should be cautious as we move into the future because we sure as hell should be able to look at the past year and realize that losing control of the virus is a very bad thing to do.