Can we take a few minutes and talk. I know you have a few minutes, we all have a few minutes now.

Ok so let’s talk. I know it feels like the zombie apocalypse is happening right now. Your once full schedule is now empty, yoga pants are the norm for most people, and you’re trapped in your house with your kids who miss their friends.

I know it sucks. Really honestly and truly I know it does.

I know family dynamics are changing by the minute, I know there is uncertainty, and I know stress levels are high.

Trust me I know.

My family has gone from crazy overscheduled to… not.

We went from mom working part time, kids in school, and dad working full time at his office to mom at work, kids homeschooling, and dad attempting to get work down while things meltdown.

I know you feel trapped and frustrated and you want to begin normal life again as soon as possible… but here’s the thing… you can’t.

This isn’t a “China problem” or a “Chinese virus”, now this is everyone’s problem. We can argue all day about whether or not the response was fast enough, but that doesn’t matter anymore.

Pretending this crisis isn’t happening isn’t a viable option any more. You cannot continue life as normal, it’s time to make some changes.

We have to make changes in our behavior until the daily infection rate decreases.  Yes, it is going to take awhile.

If you say to yourself “It doesn’t matter if I’m out about, I’m just one person, my risk of infection is low”, then you’re just wrong.

While your risk of complications may be low, you are still at risk for contracting the virus and spreading it to the people around you.  Think Typhoid Mary but in 2020 and less fecal oral contamination.

As of noon today, the state of Georgia had 287 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10 confirmed deaths. We are looking at a 3% mortality rate. I know the number seems low, but what if the people included in that number were your grandparents, your parents, your spouse, or your children?  What if in some way you were personally impacted by that mortality rate? Suddenly 3% would seem like a really big number to you.

So here is my plea.

Stay home, please stay home.

You don’t need to run out just to get eggs, you don’t need to “just get out of the house” because you are bored, you don’t need to sneak back to the office because there are fewer than 10 people since everyone else has gone home.

Yes, you are probably low risk. Yes you will probably get the virus and recover without ever knowing you contracted it, but at the same time there are people who will not be ok, and this is how you help them.

This is our moment to step up.

If you’re a Millennial or a Gen Xer, you remember September 11^th. I clearly remember being a sophomore in high school the day the Twin Towers came down. And just as vividly, I remember the days that came after. In the days that came after 9/11 America stepped up. People donated blood, food, time, and money. People were proud of their country, and ready to give what they could to rebuild.

Well this is our chance to do it again.

This time we don’t need your time, this time we need you to stay home.

We need you to stay home and appreciate that this is the only pandemic we have seen in our lifetimes and that we were not prepared to deal with it. We may have been prepared to deal with pandemic flu, but this isn’t flu.

There are some really smart people hard at work fighting this virus, but in order to give our front line workers, scientists, public health official, and all the rest a fighting chance, we need to give them TIME to do their job. We give them time by staying home and slowing the infection rate (flattening the curve).

I’m just going to tell you that I’m not sleeping well at night. My job requires that I continue going to work through the virus. The nature of my job is such that there’s a really possibility that I will come in contact with someone who has COVID-19. There’s a good chance that I will get the virus and bring it home to my family. There’s a high probability that some of all of my staff will be exposed to the virus at some point, and that decisions I make could have a very real impact on the health and safety of others. I’m counting PPE supplies in my head instead of sleeping, hoping none of our supplies get stolen and all of our supplies come in. I’m stressed not because I might get the virus, because like most of you, I am young(ish) and healthy, but because given current attitudes, I don’t think we can slow the rate of infection.

So here’s my plea.

Stay home, wash your hands, and binge watch Netflix.

Clean out that closet you’ve been meaning to tackle, mow your lawn, take a walk in your neighborhood and enjoy the spring flowers.

Don’t hoard groceries or toilet paper (this is a lung disease not a butt disease)- hoarding makes other people nervous and creates a rush to the store.

FaceTime a friend instead of stopping by the chat (keep your germs to your house).

Send a letter, write an email, send a text, start using Marco Polo.

Try yoga, meditation or running.

Don’t go places you don’t need to be- you don’t need to go to Walmart “just to see if the shelves are bare”, make a grocery list and go once a week (or less), skip the vacations you’ve been planning, and for the love WASH YOUR HANDS.

Do it because this is the role that you need to play in this crisis.

Do it to keep your grandparents and parents safe.

Do it because your best friend/sibling/spouse is a health care professional, do it because you live on a street full of old people, or do it because stopping the spread of infection is the only way normal life is going to restart soon.

Seriously, stay home so baseball season can restart, stay home so the high school seniors can walk at graduation, stay home so all the service industry employees can start getting paychecks again- the faster we flatten the curve, the faster we get back to living life.