It’s time to venture forth

Dear Amy: Can you stand yet another letter about COVID-19? My age and health put me in a higher risk group than others.

Because of the pandemic, I have avoided contact with people. I quit my part-time job because of concerns about COVID in the workplace. I no longer travel or have in-person visits with friends.

I no longer attend church services. I no longer eat out at restaurants. I only shop for essentials and get in and out of the store quickly.

I am fully vaccinated, so why am I acting like this? Because we’re told that the fully vaccinated can still get very sick and die from this virus. We’re told that anyone can be an asymptomatic carrier of this virus and transmit it to someone and possibly kill them. We’re told that variants of this virus could break through a vaccine.

In my opinion, the psychological damage inflicted by this pandemic (or perhaps by the media coverage of it) is being overlooked. Your advice?

Sick of it All

Dear Sick: I think you should make a deliberate effort to take more control of your life and do your very best to tiptoe back out into the world.

You can safely meet with people (certainly masked and outside), and you should do your best to get plenty of fresh air and gentle exercise, preferably with a partner.

Life is full of risks. Some of these risks (driving a car, for instance) also involve risks to others. But you drive a car because you understand that the rewards of driving are far greater than the risks.

Staying trapped by your fears is not good for you. The stress of living in this frightened state is definitely not good for your health.

Dear Readers: I recently ran a letter from “Got to Go in L.A.,” asking what I believe is a good question regarding toilet etiquette in public nongender-specific bathrooms.

Got to Go’s question is: After you have used a public toilet, should you leave the seat up or down?

I promised to conduct an informal poll and to tally the results. Unfortunately, I didn’t really think this through.

I’ve received several hundred responses, which means that I have spent much of the last week reading about toilets.

My favorite response is below, because it comes from someone with a wealth of knowledge, who I assume has seen way too much, toilet-wise.

Dear Amy: With 35 years of experience as a flight attendant, I know something about gender-nonspecific bathrooms. Although my airline had no policy on this subject, I have thoughts about this:

1) If there is a lid and a seat, always lower both before you leave.

2) If there is just a seat, raise it, simply because there are enough men out there who do not think to raise it if it is down; and a missed approach is highly likely.

3) If you are a dude, consider sitting so as not to splatter, and always wipe the rim with paper before washing your hands and leaving.

4) And women should never use it as a squat toilet. Ever!

For everybody, please just tidy up as a sign of respect for your fellow humans.

Cleaned Up Enough