Stay home, stay home, stay home
What happens next in New Mexico isn’t up the mayor. Or the governor. Or even the president. No, whether we flatten the curve and stop the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, source of pandemic and panic across the globe, is up to us.
How we behave will determine the future of this outbreak. People of all ages, young to old, need to stay home, and if you can’t, keep apart from others.
At the grocery store or pharmacy for supplies, stay six feet away from people.
Walking on the trails or for a hike or going backcountry skiing, separate from others.
Strolling through the neighborhood, don’t walk side by side, and cross the street to avoid others. But wave, of course.
Do not gather for birthday parties, hang out with friends, gather for jam sessions or otherwise risk spreading the virus. Video chat elderly relatives. Have meetings virtually. Set up tutoring appointments via Google Hangout.
Stay home.
If all of us join together — apart — and stop the spread of this virus, we are creating what Mayor Alan Webber called a “firebreak.” He was speaking in his biweekly chat with reporters to update citizens on what is happening on the virus front. The mayor also posts on Facebook at the city of Santa Fe page so citizens can hear directly from him.
His firebreak analogy makes clear what we need to do — what we have needed to do since the beginning, really.
When firefighters stop the spread of blazes through forests, they create a space where fire can’t burn. Similarly, we are charged with staying home to create a break where germs cannot spread. It’s establishing a space where we are isolated and not infecting others or being infected ourselves. Stay home.
If we do this now, not because of a government order — as necessary as that might be — we can stop the virus in its tracks. Life could return to a semblance of normal sooner rather than later (but by sooner, we don’t mean next week).
With Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announcing the closure of nonessential businesses and with the continued exponential growth in cases, it is clear that New Mexico is running out of time to stop the spread before it overwhelms our medical systems. Doctors, nurses and other health care workers show up for work every day, risking their lives and health to take care of us. The least we can do is take this seriously. Stay home.
No one wants the sort of economic damage that a long shutdown will cause — what President Donald Trump tweeted (all caps, naturally) could be a cure worse than the disease. But if people stay home, there is hope that we can avoid the worst-case scenarios.
Just stay home.
That’s the best way to change the future to one where the pandemic ends and we all get back to whatever the new normal becomes.
It’s up to us.