To the Editor:

I grew up in Piqua, on Greene Street. I skated at 36, attended Springcreek, Grace and Greene Street Methodist, and when I graduated PHS in 2006, I left. I now live in Elizabeth, N.J., where three teachers died yesterday from COVID-19. There are more people in my new home, New Jersey, with COVID-19 than there are residents in Piqua. More people have died here in the last two weeks than walked at my graduation.

From a Piqua girl: Stay home. You guys have a chance to do this the right way and learn from New York and New Jersey’s mistakes. You guys have a real chance at Ohio having fewer deaths, and fewer infections per-capita. I know it seems like an overreaction to not hang out on the front porch with your friend who doesn’t have a cough, or take the kids to the park, or even attend church.

It’s not about if you or they are sick or not. You don’t know, and won’t know. It’s about protecting yourself, yes, but also your friends and family, and their friends and family. It’s also about protecting our frontline workers and their non-covid patients, like our grandparents and great grands in nursing homes, or our kids with medical issues, and pregnant moms, or newborns.

I can tell you from experience that it is not an overreaction at all. I cannot begin to describe to you the horror that our hospitals are dealing with because we did not practice social distancing in time. People are dying alone and their families can’t even say goodbye. Doctors and nurses don’t have the tools or gear to treat the patients, let alone protect themselves from becoming patients. Sick people can’t even get tested because there simply aren’t enough tests. And this all in an area with some of the most sophisticated and efficient healthcare infrastructure in the country.

Please, be safe. Keep your neighbors safe. Flatten the curve and stay home.

— Danielle Fienberg

Elizabeth, N.J.