With the lift of most restrictions and the lax nature COVID-19 is treated with right now, people feel we are returning to a semblance of “normal” that we once had in our day-to-day lives pre-pandemic. Though my intended message is that I believe we should all still take precautions to be as safe as possible, I’m not going to act like I’ve never broken my own rule. Even though I do wear masks, I do tend to take them off when I’m at the gym and will often forget to put them back on when I’ve taken them off to eat.

But we must remember that even though our government has decided to stop caring about it, COVID is still a big issue that needs to be treated seriously. Throughout the return to normalcy, it seems we’ve completely forgotten immunocompromised people, people with prior health issues, and the simple fact that we don’t know the lifelong effects on your health that come after COVID. It’s the responsibility of ordinary people to protect those who are more likely to be seriously harmed if they come into contact with this illness.