Protect yourself, your family from virus

Given how fast COVID-19 spreads, there won’t be a phase where life can go back more or less to normal before a vaccine is widely distributed. Every attempt will be met with a surge of cases.

We’ve seen the numbers rebound across the country this summer. The first COVID-19 case in the U.S. was in mid-January. By the end of March, we had 200,000 total cases; by the end of April, over 1 million cases; and today we are at over 5 million. That’s how fast it spreads. Just a few cases can quickly mushroom into hundreds, then thousands.

The only tools we have to slow it down right now are to continue to limit our contacts, and when we are in contact with others always practice physical distancing, wear masks and wash hands. Slowing the spread of the virus only lasts if we continue to practice these measures.

Even if you feel your own risk is low, once you are infected you will infect others and cause harm. And the more we learn about the disease, the more we see that it can have long-term effects, even for those with mild or no symptoms. Neurological complications in children. Heart muscle damage in young adults.

So, please, take a deep breath and forget politics for a minute. Stick with the program a bit longer. We’ve done well in Western Pennsylvania, but that is slipping. Protect your families and those around you. There will be a vaccine, and we will be able to return to normal. Just not yet.

When you do have to go out, wear a mask. It’s to protect American lives. It’s to protect those who have to or are able to go back to work or school. It’s the patriotic thing to do. RICHARD HUGHES

O’Hara and hospitals; and we are subject to the daily racist rants and tweets of this president. Can we survive four more years of this?

MINDY FLEISHMAN Squirrel Hill