Stay the Course to Get to the Finish Line

After many weeks of physical distancing, staying home as much as possible, and practicing strong prevention measures like washing hands often and covering our coughs and sneezes, we’re all feeling fatigued.

We know that the measures we’ve been taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are working because we’ve been seeing the number of cases and hospitalizations going down. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that, in the famous words of Benjamin Franklin, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” While we’re tiring of the daily measures to prevent the spread, it’s important that we stay the course and keep them up. We’re not running a 5K here, we’re running a marathon. And keeping up our stamina when running a marathon is crucial if we want to cross the finish line.

There’s a lot about this virus we still don’t know. What we do know is that there are asymptomatic carriers out there, and while we may feel perfectly healthy, and the person we want to get together with feels perfectly healthy, if one of us is an asymptomatic carrier, we have now spread the virus. One of us will take it home from hanging out at the park, the backyard get together, or the Frisbee game, and pass it on to someone in our household who may actually get sick with the virus. That household member may pass it on to others as they go about their essential errands before they know that they have it. And suddenly we are right back where we started.

We know that the weather is getting nicer, and backyard parties and picnics are calling. Memorial Day weekend is calling. Kids are tired of being inside and want to hang out at the park, or sit 6 feet apart and do sidewalk chalk. But now is the time for patience and perseverance, and keeping up that stamina so we can all cross the finish line together. What we ask of you, Madison and Dane County, is that you stay home a little while longer, so that this won’t last a whole lot longer.