STAY AT HOME

ON MARCH 22, 2020, GOV. DEWINE, LT. GOV. JOHN HUSTED, AND DR. AMY ACTON, DIRECTOR OF OHIO PUBLIC HEALTH, ANNOUNCED A “STAY AT HOME” ORDER THAT WENT INTO EFFECT ON MARCH 23. WHAT EXACTLY DOES STAY AT HOME MEAN? WHY SHOULD YOU LISTEN? CONTINUE READING TO FIND OUT.

BASICALLY, “STAY AT HOME” MEANS—

• Stay at home or your place of residence.

• Non-essential businesses must cease.

• Public and private gatherings outside your household are prohibited.

YOU CAN GO OUTSIDE YOUR HOME—

• If your work is deemed “essential” (e.g., medical service provider, public safety worker).

• For essential goods and services for yourself or your household.

• For outside activities, provided you maintain at least 6 ft. of distance between yourself and others.

For further facts, here’s a link to FAQ’s on the Ohio Department of Public Health site.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW THIS ORDER?

• Coronavirus spreads easily. You can have coronavirus and not know it, because you don’t have any symptoms.

• You can breathe it in or pick it up from touching a surface where an infected person has been.

• You can leave it behind on a surface where you have been (e.g., door handle, park bench)

• If you (or anyone else) has the virus, and goes about their daily life, they will spread the disease.

• An infected person (even someone without symptoms) can easily spread the disease to 2-3 more people within one week.

• Those 2-3 people spread it to 2-3 more people. Within just four weeks, that one person has been responsible to infect 406!

• For every person that follows “Stay at home,” another 20 – 25 people will not be infected.

BY STAYING HOME—

• You will protect yourself, your family, and people in the community.

• You will help hospitals, clinics, and other medical care workers from being overwhelmed and overworked. You will help to make sure they have the medicines and supplies to take care of your child’s broken arm, your uncle’s heart attack, and your diabetes.

• You will help our city, county, state and nation get back to work.

Click here for a list of topics related to the Stay at Home order on the Ohio Department of Health website.

In general, I’m one of those people for whom “Rules are suggestions you might want to follow.” The exception is when those “rules” are for the common good, a greater good.

BECAUSE I ALSO BELIEVE THAT—

• We all rise or fall together. We all flourish or suffer together.

• We are all members of one body.

• Each human being is created in the image of a loving God, and our entire creation is imbued with God’s spirit.

• My responsibility is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” In other words, I am called to do what is right, good, and loving for others; take God (my higher power) seriously, and take myself less seriously!

AND, FROM A PRACTICAL STANDPOINT, I—

• Fit a couple of the “high risk” categories (age, compromised immune system).

• Have family members and friends who are in “high risk” categories.

• Have family members and friends who are health care professionals and are putting their own lives at risk for others.

• Am grateful for each of you and for what you are doing to care for others in this time.

Mary Henton