Behavior creates feather-ruffling

Dear Amy: I have a close friend who lives in another state. She doesn’t believe the pandemic is very bad, and though she does wear a mask when going out, she doesn’t take any other precautions. She believes that everyone should try to get sick in order to get “herd immunity.”

Now my friend wants to come to this area to visit. I told her upfront that my husband and I are not allowing people into our house at this time. That ruffled her feathers a little. Then, she wanted to know if I could pick her up at the airport and drive her 30 to 40 miles so she could stay with a relative.

She made a snide comment about, “Or do you not want me in your car, either?” I told her no.

I don’t know how to smooth things out with my friend when she is on the opposite spectrum of caring about this.

What do

Dear Concerned: People are responding to this health crisis along a very wide spectrum. The varying responses are challenging to family and friendships alike. Your friend might live in an area where she has not experienced the reality of a COVID strike. Like so many others, she might carom around her own media silo, unaware or in denial of the reality others are facing. Evidently you and your friend are existing in different realities.

Logically, if you won’t have people inside your home just now, why on earth would you enclose yourself in a vehicle with them? Your friend’s “ask” seems to have been a challenge.

You are doing a good job of being forthright about your own limitations. Your duty should always be to convey your own values and protect your own health

COVID has finally freed us from feeling obligated to retrieve someone from the airport.

Ido?

Concerned