JOHN YANG: The pace of U.S. COVID-19 fatalities has slowed significantly.

The nationwide death toll stands at more than 1 million people.

With precautions like mandatory masking, social distancing, and isolation no longer in place, it can seem as if worries about the virus are gone as well.

But for many people with disabilities, the threat is still very real.

We asked people in the disability community to tell us about their concerns about this new normal.

NAOMI BEN-PORATH: Naomi Ben-Porath.

I'm 26 years old.

I live in Lowell, Massachusetts.

I have POTS, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

I would say that the changes in the COVID policies have definitely made me a lot more nervous to be out and about.

NGOZI ALSTON: My name is Ngozi Alston.

I have scleroderma, which is an autoimmune condition.

There's just so much erasure that exists, right?

Like, we are not part of public spaces.

We're not part of mass movement.

We can't be.

They're not safe.

JERMAINE GREAVES: My name is Jermaine Greaves.

My different disabilities are cerebral palsy.

That is a neurological condition that affects the brain and the muscle.

My second disability is hydronitis aperitiva.

That is a chronic skin condition.

I'm just afraid of getting sick and not being able to, like, get through it, you know, that's a real concern for me.

JOHN ROSS: My name is John Ross.

I am a 71-year old widower with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

I don't go to restaurants.

I don't go into inside places.

JULIE LAM: My name is Julie Lam.

I am immunocompromised.

I have chronic kidney disease.

TERRI HUDSON: My name is Terri Hudson.

I live in Chicago, Illinois.

I was born with spina bifida.

NATALIE LAMPROS: My name is Natalie Lampros.

I am 28 years old.

My current disabilities are, I have a traumatic brain injury, asthma, and then endometriosis.

There's still doctors that I have not seen in over a year because it would require me to take off my mask for the test.

NGOZI ALSTON: The burden is constantly on me as the disabled person, having to ask and advocate for myself, even trying to hang out with friends or people want to come see me, but aren't willing to, like, take the level of precautions that I need them to.

NATALIE LAMPROS: A lot of grief, depression, and feeling very disconnected from our culture essentially.

NAOMI BEN-PORATH: For many of us, we don't have the luxury to think that COVID, as a public health situation, is past us.

And so it's been very isolating seeing the national discourse turn in that way.

JULIE LAM: My social life has strung to zero.

I cannot attend parties.

I cannot hang out with friends like what I used to.

It used to be like, we are in this together now.

No, you do.

You're on your own.

You look after yourself.

JOHN ROSS: I'm thrilled that people are able to get back to their lives and do the things that we all love to do.

But at the same time, we need to also recognize that life is precious.

And we may not be out of the woods completely, even though it seems that way.

JERMAINE GREAVES: The person next to you don't know what chronic condition you don't have.

You don't know what sickness they're carrying around you giving them COVID could be literally life or death.

So I would implore people to think about community when they wear a mask instead of thinking about themselves.

TERRI HUDSON: We should be doing everything we can societally, all of us, to take care of all of us, because there's really nothing that disabled people ask for as far as accommodation and help that doesn't also benefit nondisabled people.

Ultimately, it makes a better world for everyone if we take care of everyone.