I can start with today’s post by issuing a series of disclaimers: I am neither an expert nor a prophet. I have no special interest in mask-wearing or mask-avoidance. I am neither Republican nor Democrat, since I feel that both parties have become infected with blind partisanship and a thirst for power to the detriment of the public interest and of public service.

However, I have read and prayed and thought about this pandemic and our response to it quite a bit. I’ve been home with little else to do for a couple of months now (just like the rest of you). And I’ve come to some conclusions, which may or may not change as I receive new information.

If you are under the age of 65 (an arbitrary line, but it has to be drawn somewhere), your chances of dying of Covid-19 are small. If you are young and also healthy, your chances of dying or even getting very sick are minuscule. So, why are we, as low risk people, social distancing and wearing masks and refusing to touch one another and staying away from group situations? (I include myself because I am 62 years old, on the margins of the safer group.)

We are taking all of these precautions, precautions that are causing us to lose our jobs, our communities, and our freedoms, because we want to protect the “other half”, those who are elderly or immune-compromised or otherwise at risk for serious consequences from contracting this virus. This goal of caring for and protecting others is good. However, if we want to care for the vulnerable among us, some of us must leave our houses. Someone must grow and process the food, transport necessary goods to stores and homes, maintain the utilities and communications systems, govern the country, protect us from criminals, provide the healthcare we need, etc. All of these people and more already must leave their homes and mix with others to some extent just so that we can live and eat and enjoy some basic comforts.

So, what about the rest of us? What about those of us who are able to work from home or who are able to survive for a few months by draining our savings or by living frugally on unemployment benefits? When those enhanced unemployment benefits run out (in July) and the savings are gone, another set of people will be in need of income just to provide for their own basic necessities.

I can see no possible end to this state of coronavirus stasis other than a return to normalcy for the great majority of the population—those healthy people under a certain age who are at very low risk for dying or even becoming very ill from Covid-19. I believe we should open the restaurants and the shops and the beaches and the parks and the sports arenas and the churches now. I believe that we should suggest masks for those who want to wear them, as a possible deterrent to the spread of the virus. I believe that social distancing should be done on a limited basis, as much as is humanly possible. But basically, the healthy, younger population can go back to life as it was meant to be lived.

Then, there are the rest of us. And now I am including myself in the elderly or vulnerable population. We are responsible for our own health. Young, healthy people are not responsible for protecting me from Covid-19. If I do not want to risk getting the virus, then I am the one who will need to remain in quarantine. Our nursing homes and senior living centers will need to adopt stringent protocols to protect the elderly and the sick from the virus. Young people with health conditions that pre-dispose them to serious illness and death from the virus will need to stay home, have necessities delivered, and maintain social distance. Young, healthy people can help by delivering meals and other needed items to those who are less fortunate. and they can help by going back to work and staying away from old people and immunocompromised people. They can help by continuing to wash their hands before entering a room with an older or immunocompromised person or by wearing a mask when around vulnerable people.

Old people can help themselves by staying home.

I know there are problems with this approach to fighting and controlling the pandemic. I have young people living in my house, and if I were older or if I were dealing with an at-risk health condition, I would be concerned about their going back out into the public arena and then bringing home a viral infection that might end my life. Some younger people may have to sacrifice, not by staying home, but by leaving home and communicating with their elderly family members from a safe distance.

There are more and bigger problems with having us all shelter in place, waiting for . . . what?

And if some of us can go back to work and to school, go back to living in community, go back to life, shouldn’t we be all in favor of that?