My mom works as a pre- and post-op nurse. She recently graduated from KSU with a nursing degree and started working at Northside Towne Lake in their surgery unit. My mom, the hardest worker I have ever met, went through all of that to help people recover from surgeries; however, my mom now works in a different hospital, farther from home, doing COVID-19 screenings on everyone who walks through the doors. She works 12 hour days, equipped with a normal surgery mask instead of the high-protection N95 masks that shield from the coronavirus. 

Not only my mom but thousands of nurses around the country, have been plucked out of their comfort zones and slapped in the face with COVID-19. In Italy, healthcare workers made up 9% of coronavirus cases, so out of 110, 574 cases in Italy approximately 9,952 healthcare workers wound up infected with the disease they desperately tried to stop. 

Unfortunately, the number of cases in America continues to grow and surpass Italy, China and the other 203 countries currently affected by the coronavirus. An even bigger outbreak remains projected for the month of April, while too many blasé and unconcerned Americans ignore social distancing recommendations. The projected death toll for America lies between 100,000-240,000 people: if we apply the 9% statistic from Italy to those numbers, 9,000-21,600 healthcare workers could die while trying to protect American citizens. Those same citizens who ignore recommendations from the CDC and continue to go on spring break (hanging out with large groups of friends) show a selfish disregard for all of the lives around them. 

Social distancing works. China, with a lack of new cases, practiced social distancing and made admirable efforts to control and limit the virus. A variety of fun things to do indoors exist to prevent people from going stir-crazy, such as arts and crafts activities, binge-watching movies, and joining every Zoom meeting one can. If you absolutely need to leave the house, take a drive and watch the sunset/sunrise with your windows down, but stay away from others as much as possible. 

People infected by this virus commonly do not feel symptoms for an average of five days after infection. Feeling fine, these victims go around spreading the virus, leaving it on surfaces and infecting hundreds of other persons. Please, protect our healthcare workers, our elderly, our kids and every healthy American citizen who could contract COVID-19. Please stay home.