Despite the lifting of mask mandates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that unvaccinated people continue to wear masks and observe social distancing.

Since only 30% of Rowan County residents are fully vaccinated, that means at least two out of every three people should still be wearing masks. However, when I go to a grocery, drug or home improvement store, almost no one is masked. I suspect those few who have, like me, been fully vaccinated and are simply exercising an abundance of caution in the face of the continuing pandemic.

Last week, nearly 1,600 Americans died of COVID-19. Over a one month period, that is over twice the number killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when Americans were willing to do anything to stop further terrorist attacks. Why, then, are we so unwilling to take the simple steps of masking and social distancing to stop COVID from continuing to take lives?

— Thomas J. Strini

Spencer