Thank you Gov. Parson for issuing a stay home order

Missouri joined the growing list of states with stay-at-home orders Friday as Gov. Mike Parson took direction from medical professionals. While we may be somewhat late to the party, we still need to be thankful for the decision.

“Together, we must continue to control and to contain and fight this virus to stay ahead of the battle,” Parson announced. “I’m ordering a statewide stay at home order for all Missourians beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday, April 6, until 11:59 p.m. to Friday, April the 24th.”

This is a move the medical community has been encouraging for several weeks now in order to curb the COVID-19 spread. This will not make the disease go away, but it will hopefully slow the spread and cause fewer people to get infected.

The Missouri State Medical Association wrote a letter to Parson nearly two weeks ago stating “we now believe that a statewide ‘shelter-in-place’ order is the only way to curb the exponential spread of COVID-19 in Missouri.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, said Friday he “doesn’t understand” why every state isn’t under a stay-at-home order. This is the leading medical expert in this topic telling all of us we should have this order.

Missouri is now no longer on the list lacking one.

As the general public, we need to listen to the medical professionals as Parson now has.

A stay-at-home order does not mean you can’t go to work, and it doesn’t mean you can’t buy groceries. It means we should all spend as much time as possible at home. When we do absolutely have to go out, proper safety precautions need to be taken.

While this is getting repetitive at this point, regularly wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, avoid touching your face, take advantage of the telemedicine options if you need help and use the COVID-19 hotline at 877-435-8411 for questions.

We need to air on the side of saving and protecting lives.

In the meantime, as you prepare this weekend to follow the new order, act with consideration.

Don’t panic buy and consider that others need the same resources you do. Offer assistance to those you know who are at higher risk, to see if they need anything. We need to be aware of the others in our community.

Hopefully, this order will do what it is intended and curb this disease so everybody can go back to their jobs, students can return to school, and life can move on.

— Daily American Republic