Staying home is a preventative action.
Kids, I live in the middle of China. And guess what? It’s on the decline here, because travel was shut the fuck down, and people have been self-quarantining and staying home. Stay home. And I’m not saying that because I’m a doomsday fear-monger.
Do you know why self-quarantining works? Because the incubation period is anywhere from one to two weeks. You could be a carrier long before you know you have it. You can leave your home, catch it from another carrier, and go about your life spreading it to others for a solid fourteen days. And everyone knows that aeroplanes are just flying Petri dishes. You’re at risk of transmission on a plane, and you’re at risk of transmitting for much longer than most of you may realize.
The virus is travelling at an exponential rate because of this incubation period. When it reaches where you live, no one will know for two weeks. People will be passing it around for two weeks. And then the cases will crop up, and when they do, your healthcare systems will be overwhelmed. Your neighbours will be treated in hallways and waiting rooms. There will be limited resources, limited oxygen machines, limited kits. Doctors and nurses will be pushed to breaking point, and they will exhaust themselves. And as I’ve seen here, some of them will die as a consequence. And the elderly and the immunocompromised will be at risk of dying.
But you can help this. By staying the fuck home like the goddamn CDC says. Go out only if it’s necessary. For work, for groceries, for doctor visits. If your job allows you to work from home, do it. Travel only in emergencies. Stay home. Don’t put yourself or others at risk.
See those flat lines? Those are Chinese provinces, where the virus could have been exponential, but people were quick to distance themselves and stay home, so it hasn’t been exponential. There haven’t been that many new cases. And, yeah, it was government-enforced. It also worked.
So when your CDC advises social distancing because your government can’t constitutionally enforce it? Do it. Just fucking do it. Look at the graph. And do it.
I know it sucks. But someone else’s right to LIVE is greater than your right to a cheap plane ticket and a weekend away.
We’re going to survive this. And you increase how many of us will by staying home.
Staying home is not a fear reaction.
Staying home is a preventative action.