After more than 18 months of a pandemic, a substantial chunk of the population continues to assert their own individual liberties over the common good. This great divide – spilling into workplaces, schools, supermarkets and voting booths – has split the nation at a historic juncture when partisan factionalism and social media already are achieving similar ends. It is a phenomenon that perplexes sociologists, legal scholars, public health experts and philosophers, causing them to wonder: At what point should individual rights yield to the public interest? If coronavirus kills 1 in 100, will that be enough to change some minds? Or 1 in 10? Today, millions of U.S. residents shun vaccines that have proven highly effective, and resist masks that ward off infection, fiercely opposing government restrictions. Others clamor for regulation, arguing that those who take no precautions are violating their rights – threatening the freedom to live of everyone they expose. No matter where one stands, it puts a new spin on the famous line delivered at America's founding by Patrick Henry: "Give me liberty or give me death." Story by Dennis Wagner.