Maybe it’s because the coronavirus can’t get them – the young, the healthy – it’s for the “sick” and “decrepit”. The media qualify every death with a health condition, the adjective “older”, and as a result, people can keep the troubling reality of this virus at arm’s length, just remote enough that they can carry on with their lives.

Except that I have a health condition. You wouldn’t know it unless I told you, I am certainly not weak or frail, but I am more vulnerable to this virus. Would that make it less tragic if I succumbed to it?

I do understand why people want to create a distinction between themselves and those who are dying – quite simply, they are scared. The coronavirus is making us sickeningly aware of our mortality. But not only does dismissing the victims as “vulnerable” or “weak” callously undermine the significance of their deaths, it is also a damagingly divisive attitude to perpetuate at a time when we need to stand together.

Fundamentally, we need to flatten the peak of the infections so that the NHS can cope. This involves slowing the spread of the disease, and to achieve this, everybody must severely limit their social contact, whether they are high risk or not. Yet continuing to blame deaths on underlying health conditions, rather than the severity of the virus, blunts the urgency of social distancing. This is a public health crisis, the worst we’ve seen for a century; it is an inconvenient fact that we need to disrupt our daily routines and act now, not just accept that those with health conditions are more likely to die.

Complacency is inexcusable. Italy has etched out the future with bleak clarity: coffins stacking up, hospitals inundated, not enough ventilators. However old or frail somebody might be, we cannot condemn them to die distressed, and surrounded by nurses in hazmats. You might be young and healthy, but, just for a short time, start acting as though you had a health condition. It’s a burden I will carry with me every day for the rest of my life, but I’m only asking you to take it on temporarily. We cannot afford to have a rift between the healthy and the vulnerable; it has never been more important to protect each other.

So if you know somebody with a health condition, send them a message. They are probably scared. And start following government advice. People with health conditions are pretty great, and it’s worth inconveniencing yourself to keep us safe.