04/02/2020
This is NOT an April Fools joke! This may come across as a very long rant, but please read carefully and share.
For all those who aren't following the STAY AT HOME order (not just social distancing anymore) for non-essential reasons:
You may not care about your parents.
You may not care about your children.
You may not care about your friends.
You may not care about your neighbors.
You may not care about anyone other than yourself.
Consider the following:
You're told 6 feet is enough space to keep you safe while jogging behind others when someone 25' in front of you could cough and you won't hear it, but you'll be exactly where they were within a second of jogging. Even when you're standing still, a light wind can easily carry the virus 25' or more.
Every time you go outside, you take a chance of picking up bacteria and viruses on the bottom of your shoes and walk around the house, but unless you're disinfecting your floor constantly, your young children may crawl around and be exposed. If you have pets, they can bring it up to your couch or bed. You can also bring in the virus through your clothes which most don't remember to change out of immediately after returning home.
Now, you may believe you're invincible and none of that will impact you and your family. But have you considered what happens if you're infected and actually go out for the ESSENTIAL activities like shopping for food?
You become the spreader and leave the virus on things in the supermarket that store employees touch for various reasons like cleaning up, organizing, and collecting carts. Let's not forget all of you that can't bother to throw your gloves away in the garbage or take them home with you. You leave them on the carts or parking lot ground with the expectation that it's the employee's jobs to clean up your mess.
WHEN (not if) those same supermarket employees get sick due to COVID-19 because YOU gave it to them, these stores will begin closing down and then....
YOU CAN'T GET YOUR GROCERIES! No meat, no bread, no eggs, no vegetables, no bottled water, no toilet paper, NOTHING. Do you get it now?
Still don't feel like it'll get bad enough for you? Keep reading.
For those that say they'll just get home delivery, the same principle applies. Infected supermarket staff and products will infect the delivery people and those services will begin cutting back, either by the company's choice or by the staff themselves choosing to stop working due to the risk. Not to mention if the supermarket is closed, how will they pick up your groceries?
Not to mention the (truly) essential employees that need to shop that can be infected because you didn't care about anyone else. They get sick and then we lose people who are providing important services, like medical personnel, police, fire, postal services, etc. that YOU MAY TRULY NEED.
If that last one wasn't personally impacting enough because you're invincible and you'll never need those services, think about the same shoppers who work for Amazon that you're depending on to deliver whatever things you "want". Those warehouses will begin to close down and since non-essential stores are closed, you can't buy it locally either.
Now that I put it in a way that DOES impact you, please reconsider your choice to leave the house for non-essential reasons.
Long story short. We are in a STAY AT HOME order, so please stay at home unless you absolutely need to leave your home. I hope this message works to reason with those who don't believe this is a serious issue.
For the inevitable comments from naysayers or those who feel they are being targeted (I'm not targeting anyone in particular):
I'm not complaining that I see someone or a group of people outside. I realize there are many legitimate reasons why people are out, aside from food shopping or being an "essential" employee. This message is directed to the people who don't care if they get it because they feel invincible and really don't care that they can spread it to others and do as they please. It's intended to show how that way of thinking will extend how long we, as the human species, will need to deal with COVID-19 and associated limitations on our way of life, and eventually impact everyone through closures of the truly essential stores and services we all rely on.
This was never going to be solved by 2 weeks of "social distancing", even if it was a strict stay at home order. Not even if enforced with police and military guards on every block. The virus lifecycle is longer than that to begin with.
End of April (in my opinion) isn't realistic either (as a country) especially when you consider the free travel we enjoy in the United States unless major travel bans are put in place, every state puts out and enforces strict stay at home laws, and more restrictions are put in as to what qualifies as "essential" retail businesses. This part may seem like doomsday speak, but its common sense when you consider that unless EVERY INSTANCE of COVID-19 is eradicated or a vaccine is created, this whole lockdown cycle will start all over again and neither will happen in a matter of weeks.
Comments will be left open, but I doubt I'll be responding.
