Want to End the Quarantine? JUST STAY HOME!

While it appears no one likes the quarantine, it is also pretty clear that the way to get to the end of the virus and the quarantine is social distancing. This message, while widely disseminated, has not yet been taken to heart by enough people. New York Magazine provides an in depth perspective in the article, “How the Coronavirus Could Take Over Your Body (Before You Ever Feel It).

Coronavirus cannot replicate if it doesn’t have another human in whom it can infect. Staying home and/or social distancing effectively robs the virus of an opportunity to replicate in a new host.

The chart below compares the period of March 9th through March 30th. The panel on the left is the overall emotion allocation from the Coronavirus compared to the panel on the right which displays the emotions around staying home. The level of disgust and anger towards the concept of “stay home” is much higher than the overall Coronavirus. This disgust and anger is directed towards those who have been NOT staying at home and contributing to community spread. It appears people want the pandemic to end, and the best path to follow is to starve the virus of new hosts. But this has been ignored by certain groups creating anger and disgust towards those in noncompliance.

Celebrities and social influencers have been creating videos or memes to encourage everyone to avoid unnecessary contact. On March 22, NPR reported the following: Celebrities Send Message to Young People: Stay At Home. These influencers are providing a public service announcement to get every person to take social distancing seriously because that is the only way to get control of this virus. Otherwise, we just extend the amount of time it takes to reach the end of the pandemic. In doing so, it will take more lives. It is clear that people feel strongly about staying home and yet their emotions are directed to those who are not heeding the warnings for whatever reason.

Now is the time to take action to help end the quarantine. JUST STAY HOME.