Upping the ante vs. virus: Just stay home

Gov. Tom Wolf upped the ante on his earlier call for all “nonlife-sustainable” businesses to close their doors.

They are the three words we all suspected were coming. Stay at home.

That was the word from Gov. Tom Wolf. Monday afternoon as he upped the ante on his earlier call for all “non-lifesustainable” businesses to close their doors. He now is simply telling people not to leave their house, aside from perhaps a trip to the grocery store, pharmacy or maybe a walk.

If they do go out, they are mandated to practice our new mantra, “social distancing,” keeping 6 feet between them and the next person.

The same holds true next door in both New Jersey and Delaware. N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy went so far as to tell people from out of state who own homes at the Jersey shore not to cross the bridge. In Delaware, Gov. John Carney even closed the popular beaches in Rehoboth. Their stay-at-home order kicks in today.

All of this is being done in a last-ditch effort to get our arms around the ferocious coronavirus outbreak and the COVID-19 illness that comes with it.

On Monday, Pennsylvania announced state health officials had recorded another 165 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 644 in 34 counties. The death toll is 6, including the first in Montgomery County, a 72-year-old Abington man.

Across the nation, the numbers are even more daunting. More than 350,000 cases of coronavirus infections have been recorded. The death toll is now approaching 500. Nearly a quarter of the country is now under “stay-athome” restrictions.

That would include Philadelphia and the counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery, as well as Allegheny and Monroe counties in western Pa.

The governor’s edict was fairly stark: Gone are any public or private gathering of any people outside a single household. You can go for a walk, but you can’t walk into a restaurant to place an order. You have to order online and pick it up.

Gov. Wolf, after causing something of a firestorm Thursday night with his edict closing all “non-life-sustaining” businesses, hinted he might be issuing the stay-athome order. Monday’s order affects six counties plus the city of Philadelphia but may be broadened to include the entire state before the week ends.

As it is, after a bit of a reprieve over the weekend – and after his office was inundated with complaints, questions and even a lawsuit or two – started enforcing his ban onessential businesses at 8 a.m. Monday. State police and other local and state agencies are empowered to issue citations and possible fines for businesses found to be in violation of Wolf’s order.

“I want to be honest with you, and what we face,” Wolf said Sunday night. “What we are trying to do here is buy time ... We cannot overload our health system. If we aren’t successful, the consequences are going to be even more dire than the consequences that we are facing now.”

In Philadelphia, part of the mayor’s reasoning for ratcheting up the pressure to get people to stay at home was that people were simply ignoring all the other pleas.

There were still large family gatherings in parks and playgrounds, and far too many people not practicing social distancing.

It carries echoes of the scenes in Miami Beach, where spring breakers continue to converge and openly flout requests not to gather in public.

One public health official after another has described the same scenario. Our only hope to mitigate the spread of the virus, thus flattening the curve and preventing a sudden avalanche of people getting sick at the same time that would cripple the nation’s health care system, is to practice what they have been preaching.

We’re all washing our hands, covering our mouths when we cough, sneezing into our elbow, and sanitizing like mad.

It hasn’t been enough. We need to do more.

We need to stay home. When we do venture out, we need to practice safe “social distancing,” keeping six feet of space between us and the next person.

We’ve long since sailed past the point where those who shun these orders can be ignored.

It’s time to be part of the solution – not part of the problem.