If your children’s school has not been canceled yet, please keep them home. If you can work from home, please stay home. Go to the grocery store once a week, but please don’t hoard. Practice yoga at home. Don’t go out to eat. Use this time to spring clean, start a hobby, read, etc.

At this point in the United States, we have an opportunity to “flatten the curve” and help our health care system handle the Coronavirus pandemic. It only works if we all cooperated. It doesn’t matter if you are young and viral or old and weakened, we all must participate in social distancing whether required or not by our government.

If your child’s school is still planning on holding classes, voice your concerns to teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members, and public health. Pressure from parents works. If they do not respond, request independent study for your child. This is like going on short term home school, and the school will still receive funding if your child completes the work.

Yes, there are grave concerns with closing schools, yet there are many models of how school districts are addressing these concerns. From feeding children to parents that still have to work, we must come together as a community and support one another.

Even in areas without any community spread documented, it’s important to stay home. The lack of available testing means we don’t really know. This is all changing as more tests become readily available.

We can learn from other countries what happens when you delay just by a day social distancing. The models are out there:

• Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve”
• A coronavirus cautionary tale from Italy: Don’t do what we did
• Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now

Numbers don’t like. Each one of has a responsibility to act in the interest of public health. There are times when we do weigh public health vs. private health issues thinking for example with vaccinations. This is different. There is no risk to personal health by staying home.

The coronavirus is coming to you. 
It’s coming at an exponential speed: gradually, and then suddenly.
It’s a matter of days. Maybe a week or two.
When it does, your healthcare system will be overwhelmed.
Your fellow citizens will be treated in the hallways. 
Exhausted healthcare workers will break down. Some will die.
They will have to decide which patient gets the oxygen and which one dies. 
The only way to prevent this is social distancing today. Not tomorrow. Today.
That means keeping as many people home as possible, starting now.

Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now

It’s really very simple. Stay home. Keep your kids home. No play dates, no parks, no dance class, no soccer practice. Wash your hands. Enjoy family time. Offer support to others (childcare, food, etc. ) who don’t have the ability to stay home for work…the health care workers, postal service employees, grocery store workers, utility workers…we need them!

This post is not intended to scare. It’s a call to responsible action.