The compromise we sort of reached between "never go out again" and "take no precautions" was wearing masks in crowded places, doing at-home tests, getting vaccine boosters from time to time and staying home if you feel unwell. This isn't really such a bad arrangement, if most people go along with it. But somehow taking precautions has become a politically fraught thing and some people are thinking in black and white, as if the options are either doing nothing or locking everyone in their homes. Living with COVID will have to be a compromise between these extremes.