There’s a question that’s been popping up on Facebook in recent days: Do you know someone who has had COVID?

The short answer is yes.

The longer answer is that — like all too many people — I’ve lost someone I loved to the disease.

With 35 million cases since the pandemic began, approximately 10 percent of the American population has been diagnosed with COVID. Sadly 613,000 Americans have lost their lives to the disease.

Comparatively, about 9.5 million people die of cancer each year — worldwide. About 600,000 Americans lose their lives to the disease annually.

We all know someone who has battled cancer, most know someone who has lost their life to the disease.

Now COVID has reached cancer-like numbers.

And it’s not done yet.

The CDC ranks Sullivan County’s community transmission rate as “substantial” — this is on a scale from “low” to “moderate” to “substantial” to “high.”

Of our total population, the CDC says just 50% have had a single dose of the vaccine, and less than half — 46% have completed the series.

The missing numbers include countless children under 12 who are not yet able to be vaccinated and adults with health conditions that prevent them from being vaccinated, of course. These people are at risk and vulnerable.

And ours is overall a fragile and at risk population.

Take a look at the CDC’s rankings for Sullivan County, and you see alarm bells.

The number of people without health insurance is higher than the state average. The number of people living in poverty is above both state and country averages — well above.

And the percent of our population that is 65 years or older is well above state and country averages.

Sadly, the short answer for the question of whether or not we know someone who has had COVID is very likely yes for every Sullivan County resident — whether they realize it or not.

But the longer answer is that our friends, our neighbors ... they’re at risk of being the next person we know.