My whole family got COVID recently. Ironically, we were all gathered at a funeral for my uncle, who passed away last fall, from COVID. I'm proud to say my family is fully vaccinated and boosted. More importantly, I'm very glad we all were. I have no doubt some of us would have ended up in the hospital had we not been.

COVID is something we are going to have to learn to live with, just like the flu and other bugs that go around. However, we still have a responsibility to keep others safe. For now, the CDC is recommending isolating and then masking if you test positive for COVID. That's what my family did. We took the handy quiz at http://www.cdc.gov and figured out how long to stay home and how long to mask based on our symptoms and exposure.

After testing positive, I wasn't really sure what to do. Since there was no test at a doctor's office, we don't go on the tally of total cases in the county. It was up to us to do our own contact tracing as well. Thankfully I hadn't been close contacts with more than a few people who weren't in my family and already exposed. After that initial panic and trying to make sure I did my best to not expose anyone else, it was just alone time with my dog.

Just becuase COVID isn't spreading as bad as it once was doesn't mean we can disregard the responsibility we have to keep others safe. There are still guidelines if you do get sick, masking is still recommended, and we all have to adapt to living with this disease around us. I'm thankful that no one in my family got too sick, and I'm even more thankful for the care they showed to others.

— Annie Wooden