We have constantly, and understandably, been hearing the messages of “safer at home” and “social distancing” with the coronavirus pandemic hitting Wisconsin. It can easily become blasé, easily ignored after hearing it so often.
On Monday’s Steve Scaffidi Show, a nurse named Sarah from Sheboygan gave a stark reminder from her experience working the front lines in hospitals, where the virus can spread incredibly easily.
“When people don’t think about the greater good, it’s really putting me and all of my co-workers at greater risk,” said Sarah.
“I think people think ‘I don’t have it. I’m not carrying it.’ You very well could be carrying it. You don’t know. You could be asymptomatic and literally putting it on every doorknob. You think you could be the cleanest person. It stays on your hair. It stays on your pants. It’s very easily transmitted.”
That truth is why she is deeply emphasizing the importance of social distancing methods being highly encouraged by government officials, to stay safer at home.
“This to me is a big educating point, telling my friends and family to stay put. It’s not so much isolating yourself at home, but staying where you are.”
She says that importance is leading her to make the hard decision to not be present to her own parents during the pandemic, and why she’s asking her niece to do the same.
“I have elderly parents in Marathon County. They have one case there. They need assistance at times, but I have chosen to stay put because I don’t want to transport that virus to a northern county,” she said, explaining that officials in northern counties are unable to handle the pandemic.
“I have a niece who lives in Milwaukee who was told she can work from home. She wants to travel to a northern county to stay with her parents, but I told her, ‘No. You have to stay in Milwaukee.’ The chances of you taking that virus and introducing it into that environment is too great at this time. It’s less about what we want to do and more about the greater good in the community.”
These worries, even for hospitals in smaller communities, are leading to greater anxiety among medical professionals.
“People are on edge. My coworkers are nervous. This is new and unexpected for us, not something we deal with every day. It’s beyond the scope of things we’ve seen before. It’s hard going to work. I love taking care of people, but we are trying to support each other at the same time.”