Get Real: The social-distancing struggle is real

Humans are social beings but that's the very thing that is going to make you sick or kill you, thanks to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the new sickness on the street.

Go ahead and stare me down if you think that's a little melodramatic, but it's true.

If you are a non-essential service, you have to close your office, close your doors, go home and wash your hands.

If you have just arrived back in Canada after travelling abroad, hug the ground but nothing else. Go straight to your home, close your doors and wash your hands.

If you feel sick – high fever, dry cough, shortness of breath – get checked out at the Kincardine COVID-19 Assessment Centre, located between the hospital and the medical clinic.

This is serious enough that schools have been closed, businesses and offices closed, events have been cancelled, all that remain open to the public are grocery stores, gas stations, and hospitals, and even those are taking extreme precautions to keep their workers safe.

Which even puts a dent in news services, such as the Kincardine Record, because while there was a plethora of information to be disseminated over the past couple of weeks, now there is a scramble to find some news since, as I just said, the majority of events have been cancelled so there's nothing to cover and report.

Fortunately, we have people sending in some good news stories about serenading seniors at Trillium Court, and people helping people in this time of crisis, along with our regular contributors.

In addition, there are several feature stories from the start of March that were shoved aside in favour of announcing closures and cancellations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And those features are now bubbling back to the surface for publication.

So, if you think the message of social-distancing isn't getting through? It is reaching some people. Especially those who took one look at the World Day of Prayer story on the Kincardine Record and wondered why on earth that group of women was allowed to stand so closely for a photograph. That's because it was taken March 6 before the Coronavirus hit the fan.

And brace yourself, because there are a number of stories still to be posted showing people in groups. That was just three weeks ago. How quickly things have changed!

While this pandemic continues, stay home (unless you are an essential service), wash your hands, help your neighbours, family and friends (from a distance), and get the correct information from trusted sources, such as www.publichealthgreybruce.on.ca, ontario.ca/coronavirus, and canada.ca/coronavirus.

And ... it's nine months until Christmas!