On the Fourth of July, I found out that someone I care about, who lives in a state where infection rates are soaring, has tested positive for COVID-19. This person wore a mask, stayed socially distant from others, but made one little mistake. He had lunch a few times with a co-worker.

It was at one of those meals that the co-worker said he couldn’t taste his food and didn’t understand why. He didn’t know that loss of taste or smell is a symptom that some people infected with the virus have reported. He didn’t know that he had the coronavirus. He didn’t have any other symptoms.

Now, I hope and pray the person I care about gets through this OK.

I’ve been told by well-meaning people that everything will be fine; most people get through this without any problems. I don’t care if it’s 80% or 99.9% of the people are just fine. If your loved one dies from it or has long-term scars from it, then no amount of well-wishes make any difference.

In fact, I’m downright mad.

Where I live, about 98% of the employees and customers I encounter in the stores are wearing their masks, and that’s great. I’m glad to see people trying to protect themselves from the virus, as well as others if by chance they are infected and don’t know it.

But this isn’t how it is everywhere.

Friends of mine in western Pennsylvania tell me that life there is very different. Only about 20% of the employees and customers in the stores wear a mask. Now, I know you may be thinking that the person I care about wore a mask and he still got it. Sure, but he wasn’t wearing a mask when he was eating.

I’ve heard the justifications for not wearing a mask: the virus is the same as having the flu, or only old people or those who are overweight or have a risk factor should be concerned. I’ve even heard some people in counties where the count was low say they don’t need to abide by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, because they don’t know anyone who has it and only people who came there from another state had it.

And then there are the people who say they aren’t wearing one, because they can do what they want with their body. Sure, but not if what you do could kill someone else. Disregard for the well- being of other people for the sake of your own personal comfort doesn’t justify the killing or maiming of others.

I am a pro-life person, and for me that means caring about the well-being of all people no matter how they define their race, nationality, sexual preference, age or socio-economic status. A human life is a human life. No one is better than another. We are all valuable.

This is a highly contagious virus. I’ve spoken to people in the health care industry who have told me that they have seen plenty of infectious diseases including SARS, but nothing has been as contagious as COVID-19.

I know that wearing a mask can be hot and a bit of a nuisance. It feels like something that just shouldn’t be there, but for crying out loud just “man up” and do it. Stop the spread.