Our daily lives and livelihoods have been disrupted for an adversary not only deadly but invisible. It’s one thing to be told to hunker down during a hurricane, or evacuate immediately before a wildfire, but a virus?
WHY?! HOW?
Here’s the thing: folks infected with novel coronavirus often show no symptoms in the first few days even though they are infectious to others. Under daily life as usual, every infected person infects 2 to 3 others every 2.6 days (1). That’s exponential growth (2) of infections. Moreover, novel coronavirus is much deadlier than the flu (3).
If hand washing was the solution, Italy would not be where it is today – second highest COVID-19 infections and second highest number of deaths on the planet (4).
Social distancing will reduce infections, save lives, and reduce strain on our medical resources. It’s the responsible and safe thing to do. We can also support our local, state, and federal governments as they work out ways to help those most hurt by this pandemic.
So stay home to stay safe and keep those you love safe. Hand wash frequently and disinfect surfaces.
There are more COVID-19 resource and data links posted here.
Sources used for this article are listed below.