“Letter to the community regarding COVID-19 “

• By Thurston County’s Acting Health Officer Diana T. Yu, MD, MSPH – Excerpt here:

“Please go out in the fresh air, take a step back, close your eyes and take a deep breath!

“Hard to imagine that two months ago, we never knew that COVID-19 existed. Now when people say virus, they are referring to COVID-19 (also known as SARS-CoV-2)

“Please be careful to keep yourself and your loved ones from becoming infected. We do know how to do that – basic hygiene like washing our hands, covering your cough, not touching our face and staying away from others while you are sick. In addition, we have included a measure called “social distancing”-this means staying at least 6 feet away from someone else if you do not have any protective equipment on, closing large gatherings, encouraging telework from home and school closures.

“This change in our lives disrupts our routines, activities and our ability to freely move and do what we want to do. The responsibility is OURS, as a community, to help get rid of this virus.The virus needs us to pass it around because it cannot do that by itself. If every person that has the virus or has been exposed, stays away from others, there is no one to infect and the virus does not survive. So long as everyone follows the guidelines and we do not allow the virus to infect other people, this disruption is time-limited.“

“We need you to help. We need you to stay home when you are sick, wash your hands and maintain social distancing. We need you to help conserve the resources that our health care providers need to take care of us properly if we need medical care. We need you to follow public health guidance and when there is none, we need you to use common sense. It is not possible to put out guidance for everything that you commonly do.

“We have been working on a pandemic preparedness plan for years. This pandemic is testing and challenging us. Our response community and medical community have all ramped up to respond the best they can. Thank you to our public servants who have been doing their best to handle this situation to have the best outcome. They have been at it for weeks and are doing their best.

“Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.It is a tough and scary time and disruption is difficult. With your help we can get through this together.” Read more