Under the headline “Some still isolate as COVID-19 cases decline,” the Wall Street Journal Tuesday reported that “with imperfect insight into the risks of infection as the virus mutates and immunity shifts, people are setting their own boundaries for safe behavior.”

Obviously, the more people with responsible attitudes — boundaries — regarding the coronavirus, the better.

Still, dangers can exist in becoming too consumed about trying to “escape” the virus.

At the foundation of the fight against COVID, much discomfort and suffering can be avoided — as well as deaths — when people resist inclinations to proclaim “all clear,” when such a statement clearly is premature. It is impossible to predict at this time how many more months or years COVID-19, in one or more of its variations, will continue to rear its ugly head on the United States — indeed, the world.

The Journal quoted Dr. Charles Marmar, chair of psychiatry at New York University Langone Health and a specialist in post-traumatic stress disorder, as follows:

“Determining what constitutes rational behavior as the virus continues to circulate is difficult and subjective. People who are at low risk of serious disease and who remain isolated from many of their friends and family might want to discuss their perceived risk with a mental-health professional.”

He added, “Some people thrive in isolation. Some become despondent in isolation.”

But for some people, compromised immune systems or a history of respiratory problems are a constant worry, as are the prospects of what is referred to as long COVID.

In May, an Associated Press article dealing with COVID research described long COVID as “any of more than two dozen symptoms that linger, recur or first appear at least one month after a coronavirus infection. These can affect all parts of the body and may include fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog and blood clots.” Later, the article quoted infectious disease expert Dr. Kristin Englund, who runs a center for long COVID patients at the Cleveland Clinic, who said:

“As we have no clear treatments for long COVID, it is important for everyone to get vaccinated and use other proven methods of prevention such as masking and social distancing in order to prevent infections with COVID and thus long COVID.”

Still, as the Wall Street Journal noted, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are in decline, despite people socializing and traveling.

Nevertheless, as Jennifer Freeman, director at Bradley Hospital’s Pediatric Anxiety Research Center in East Providence, R.I., told the Journal, “Pre-COVID, if someone said, ‘I’m super worried about going to the grocery store because I’m worried about getting a contagious illness,’ it would have been easier to say that risk is very low. But that risk level really has changed.”

Probably the best advice is for everyone to do what they perceive as being best for them, but to be wary of allowing oneself to “go over the edge” trying to prevent being infected by the virus.

Caution and good judgment are the right approaches to dealing with something so concerning. Allowing oneself to become a “wreck” over concern about the virus, might, for some people, be worse than actually contracting some form of the virus itself, especially if one has been vaccinated.