To the Editor:

Re “How to Catch Someone’s Eye While Social Distancing” by Erin Aubry Kaplan (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, March 31):

It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone in the age of Covid-19 is starving for human connection. One unexpected side effect of the coronavirus is that my neighbors have gotten friendlier.

I live in a small town outside Cincinnati, and though the small-town stereotype of not being able to walk very far without seeing someone I know does ring true, I don’t talk to my neighbors all that much. But Ms. Kaplan is right: Rules change the game. Now that we can’t interact, everyone needs to. It wasn’t like this before.

We’ve all had those conversations: You’re happily walking by yourself when someone you know stops to chat. You’re stuck there, wondering: How long will this last? Why do they have so much to say? Can I fake a family emergency? This doesn’t happen so much anymore; we all feel that urge to connect.

Now, every time I go on a walk, I am stopped by multiple neighbors (standing more than six feet away) wanting to chat. And every conversation is refreshing. I am greeted by people I’ve never met, and it’s great to hear how they’re doing.

Disease is universal, fear is universal. Maybe friendliness can be universal, too.

Margaret Sprigg-Dudley

Loveland, Ohio

The writer is a high school student.

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