Letter: We're not at the end of COVID problem yet

Susan Estrich's article, "COVID is coming back" was excellent: Straight forward, honest and meaningful. But, I have an addendum to her well-intended concluding comment, "We must move forward ... however difficult." I must also emphasize that as confusing and scary as COVID is in our lives, it leaves us with a big question: What to do now?

On a personal level, we have friends who have just arrived from the Southwest. Relative to the COVID dynamic, their attitude is more relaxed. "Hey, let's go to dinner. You pick the restaurant. We don't need to wear a mask. We've been vaccinated."

A week ago the CDC recommended mask wearing indoors because of the sharp rise in the positivity rate. We went to a popular restaurant soon after: No masks on patrons or employees. Of course, there was no mandate in force. What to do? You don't want to catch COVID or give it and there you are indoors in a public venue surrounded mostly by maskless people.

With some embarrassment, you don your mask knowing that you are protecting them from you but not you from them. It simply is not reciprocal.

And then we have the new and comfortable style of mask wearing: A pretty (almost) face covering dropped below the nose. So many of my post 65-year-old friends and colleagues have been COVID victims -. With several, the result (pretty darn sick) with pneumonia. (No joke).

What to do? Who to turn to? Lots of people just wishing COVID into the forest where viruses go to die. Not yet.

Larry Joel Powitz

Arlington Heights