Editor, Gazette-Journal:

COVID19 IS a plague, with no known remedy … yet.We still have little testing, and since I can carry the virus without showing symptoms of infection, I may be a carrier. Therefore, a face covering is one minor, but important, thing I can do when around others. I am also enheartened by so many of my community practicing these small but important gestures to deter the virus.

The problem is that with this virus, unlike the common cold, many people need hospitalization, even the healthiest among us. And although it appears to be true, statistically the young and healthy will not likely die from the virus. Unlike the common cold, many can become ill enough to require oxygen and sometimes ventilators to recover. This is what we need to work for—keeping our health care system from being overwhelmed. This is not easy and nothing is 100 percent going to stop the virus right now.

But I do hope the humble civic gesture of wearing a simple mask or nose/mouth cover...