Note: To ensure all area residents to have important local information about the coronavirus health emergency, the Mitchell News-Journal has lifted its paywall and is providing unlimited access to virus-related articles on our website. We need your support to continue this important work. Please join your neighbors and become a subscriber today at www.mitchellnews.com or by calling 828-765-7169.
It’s hard to believe that just a month ago, we were getting together with friends and family, enjoying dinner at our favorite restaurant, talking about the situation in China at the watercooler at work dropping the kids off at school and planning for more of the same.
How much our lives have changed.
Unless and until a vaccine and effective treatments for COVID-19 are developed and deployed, the best advice we’ve been given is to wash our hands, disinfect surfaces and, with very few exceptions, stay home with just our immediate families.
Yes, it’s difficult. But it’s necessary for our health and the health of anyone with who we come in contact.
Some of the coronavirus deaths we are hearing about now are of people who were infected at family gatherings just before stay-at-home orders were announced.
We didn’t know then what we know now – we may be infected without showing symptoms and can pass the coronavirus to those around us.
We don’t know when, but this will pass.
In the meantime, unless you are in an essential field, for your own sake and the sake of others, please, stay home. Stay connected through phones and the internet. Reach out to those who may feel isolated. Enjoy your weekly newspaper and give healthcare workers a chance to breathe by simply staying home.