‘Do your part’: Health care workers beg people to follow stay-at-home order

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — As the number of Coronavirus cases continues to go up, health care workers are begging people at home to do their part, and follow the state and local orders to stay home.

A general surgeon at Wilmington Health says he knows these strict guidelines can be frustrating for everyone, but if we want the virus to stop spreading, it all starts by staying at home.

“All of this will pass, but it will pass quicker, and we’ll get back to a more normal sense of life quicker if we can just abide by the rules,” Dr. Jayme Stokes said. “Abide by the guidelines.”

At New Hanover Regional Medical Center, a nurse also pleads for people to heed their warnings and stay home even if they don’t feel sick themselves.

“We know based on what we’ve learned from other cities and countries, is that containment of this is imperative,” NHRMC Chief Nurse Executive Mary Ellen Bonczek said.

Bonczek says it’s frustrating to see people neglecting the stay at home order and other guidelines because they are putting not only themselves, but their family and friends at risk.

By simply staying at home, Stokes says one person could save more lives than they might ever know.

“It is frustrating as a person or a patient, or someone who’s not showing any symptoms, to have to abide by these very strict rules, but it really is in everyone’s best interest,” Stokes said.

Stokes says every person who tests positive for COVID-19 could infect three or four more people. He also says a large number of people who may have the virus do not not show symptoms, so they could be infecting other people without even knowing it.

“Just removing even one of those potential transmitting patients from the chain or the link, if you will, could have massive, exponential downstream effects,” he said. “One person could ultimately affect several people not getting the virus.”

When health care workers talk about social distancing, Bonczek says what they really mean is physical distancing. She says you don’t have to cut off interaction with other people altogether.

“In this day and age, with all of the social media we have, the opportunity to Zoom, to FaceTime, to use our social outlets wisely, it is important we maintain some social connection,” she said.

Stokes and Bonczek are asking people at home to help them help you.

“Please do your part and protect yourselves so we can concentrate on the ones who need us the most,” Bonczek said.