Firstly, thank you for framing your disagreement with me in such a civil way. I appreciate that a lot.

As far as your point about fear, yes, it is true that my disorder has taught me a lot about how sinister and damaging fear can be. And if the government were to start suggesting that people do all the things I do now, or used to do, I'd agree that those measures would be going too far. No one should live like I did during that period of my life.

But wearing a mask is infinitely more mild than just about anything my OCD has compelled me to do in the past. Furthermore, it's important to understand that my OCD was focused on theoretical threats, not actual ones. There was never any real chance that I would pick up some deadly pathogen by hugging a friend or flipping a light switch. This virus, on the other hand, is by no means a theoretical threat, as we've all learned over the last several months.

Lastly, to your point about the death rate, I'm more swayed by the total death count than the rate itself. 100,000 people is a whole lot of people no matter how you look at it, even in a country as big as the United States. Surely something that is capable of killing that many people in such a short period time demands our attention, yes?

So we may have to agree to disagree on this subject. That being said, thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond. I very much appreciate it!