Please, please, don’t let me have to wait on them, because in my heart I don’t want to ignore them, I don’t want to refuse them. But then I’m thinking I don’t want to get sick and die, either. It’s not that people are bad, but you don’t know who they’ve come into contact with.

Marilyn Reece, a lead bakery clerk at a Kroger in Batesville, Miss., and a breast cancer survivor, commenting to The New York Times this week for its story, “As Mask Mandates Lift, Retail Workers Again Feel Vulnerable.” Texas has repealed its mandate on face coverings, but Kroger still requires them.