The elevated risk prompted several large school districts in Greater Boston, including Belmont, Cambridge, Lexington, and Somerville, to dash out notices to families over the weekend and Monday, urging parents to, once again, consider masks for their children in classrooms. Some said they would be testing children more frequently, and others indicated they were weighing whether to bring back temporary mask requirements.
So what does the red-zone risk mean for everyday life? The Globe reached out to readers and their responses were wide ranging.
Several older people said they never ditched their masks, and are sticking close to home — even if many of their younger neighbors and colleagues have left precautions in their rear-view mirror.
“I am risk averse, in part because I am 70 and because I know too much,” said George Allen, an aerosol scientist who has been working from his Swampscott home since the pandemic began.
Allen closely tracks every scrap of data, including COVID levels in wastewater, new cases, and hospitalizations, and concludes that risk of infection now in Massachusetts is nearly as high as it ever was, outside of the winter surges the past two years.
He also is in good health, vaccinated and double boosted. But Allen has been wearing his mask when he goes to any indoor places, and severely limiting where he goes, which means no more dining in restaurants, something he and his wife enjoy.
“I am still at an elevated risk just because of my age,” he said, adding that being vaccinated is an imperfect protection against infection.
“I don’t want to risk Long COVID,” he said.
Age is one of the strongest risk factors for complications or death from COVID. The risk may also be increased in people of any age who have other serious health problems — such as diabetes, obesity, a weakened immune system or pre-existing heart or lung problems.
Mary Hopkins, a 67-year-old Everett resident also considers herself healthy. But she said her age, in addition to her daily subway commute to her library job at a Boston area university, has convinced her to stay vigilant, and that means masking. A lot.
“I am really good at catching colds and forming really good relations with them,” Hopkins said. “I had one this winter I was coughing for a month. I had four PCRs [molecular COVID tests] and all were negative.”
Hopkins and her husband have grandchildren and the youngest, who lives nearby, is too young to be vaccinated. Already, the child’s dad, who works in a local grocery store, has had COVID. Twice.
“I don’t go to the theater. I was tempted by a couple of [classical] concerts recently but I decided against it,” she said. “I just decided that is not my priority right now.”
Others who responded are taking a more middle-ground approach: avoiding large indoor events and spacing out the number of days between small gatherings, as well as testing after any such events. One 73-year-old retired health care professional said she feels “marginally safer to resume selected activities. This includes seeing fully vaccinated family and close friends in their homes and in mine.”
But several younger people, like Terry Waldron, a 38-year-old Beverly resident, said he is done with precautions. He has been vaccinated and boosted and got infected with COVID in December, but it was mild, just some fatigue.
“I just had a cold this past week where I felt much worse,” he said.
“I am young and do not feel at risk if I do catch it again,” he said. “I feel we need to start living life again and socializing face to face, and if you feel you are at risk, then please feel free to take the precautions you need.”
The issue of COVID precautions has become a pandemic lightning rod, often drawing heated comments from all sides. Among those who have felt the brunt of the heat are school administrators. Several who are grappling with rising cases sent notices to families Monday and over the weekend recommending – and in…
Read More: Globe readers grapple with life back in the COVID ‘red zone’