2022-02-22

COVID still threatens millions. So why are so many Americans eager to move on?

"I'm that disgusted. The lack of care for each other, to me, it's too much," said White, 30, of Los Angeles. She has multiple sclerosis and takes a medicine that suppresses her immune system. "As a Black disabled person, I feel like nobody gives a [expletive] about me or my safety."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a strict definition of who is considered moderately or severely immunocompromised, such as cancer patients undergoing active treatment and organ transplant recipients. Still, millions of other people are living with chronic illnesses or disabilities that also make them especially susceptible to the disease. Though vulnerability differs based on each person and their health condition — and can depend on circumstances — catching COVID is a risk they cannot take.

As a result, these Americans who are at high risk — and the loved ones who fear passing along the virus to them — are speaking out about being left behind as the rest of society drops pandemic safeguards such as masking and physical distancing.

Their fears were amplified this month as several Democratic governors, including the leaders of California and New York — places that were out front in implementing mask mandates early on — moved to lift such safety requirements. To many people, the step signaled that "normal" life was returning. But for people considered immunocompromised or who face high risks from COVID because of other conditions, it upped the level of anxiety.

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