Reader Responses about Courtesy and Long Covid

The last newsletter really touched a nerve. I’ve been honored by the emails I’ve received. I wanted to share a few of the remarks that hit me the hardest.

From a comment:

“I feel like I just can't connect verbally in casual conversation with other people like I used to…Encountering carefree unmasked people at a grocery story, or a coffee shop, or a pizza place... it's just so alienating. The best response I've managed to come up with to being asked about my mask is to respond with a question of my own: "Would you like to learn more about the severity of this coronavirus?" Seeing as how that usually ends most conversations, it seems that most people really would rather remain in blissful ignorance.”

From an email:

“As an innovation strategy professional, the #1 letdown through watching COVID unfold has been observing most people and institutions’ absolute inability to think about the future, plan for it, talk about it, etc…On the personal/family side, we have two kids under 5—one 4.5 year-old and one 6.5 month-old. Obviously they’re both unvaccinated. COVID will be serious for us forever/until it fades into flu-level endemic (if that’s what’s going to happen) and/or we know much more about long COVID. Our eldest, will of course be vaxxed as soon as he can be. But he’s at preschool where they’ve had a handful of cases—he fortunately hasn’t had it yet.

We kept him home for something like 4 months when the Delta wave was cresting and the baby was about to be born, and the isolation of lockdown really did a number on him. We didn’t feel we had a choice in sending him back to preschool—even though he’s pre-asthmatic and might be somewhat more at risk from COVID than other kids. Lord knows when the baby will be able to get vaccinated…”

And finally, from a health economist:

“It sure feels suuuuuper awkward to remind a recently recovered colleague about all of the long term sequelae he needs to include in a cost-effectiveness model…”