DO AS WE SAY NOT AS WE DO

CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE

 TELLS AMERICANS TO SOCIAL DISTANCE THEMSELVES

SOCIAL DISTANCING IS SIX FEET OF SEPARATION 

FROM THE NEAREST PERSON IN PUBLIC SETTING

Viral ‘match video’ shows how social distancing can save lives

A husband and wife artist team are illustrating how social distancing can halt the spread of COVID-19.

© Courtesy of Valentina Izaguirre and Juan Delcan

In the animated video, which has gone viral with more than three million views, a row of matches are shown catching on fire until one steps aside and stops the blaze in its tracks.

Do your part and stay home. It’s all we can do. pic.twitter.com/dLOkV3znNe— juan delcan (@juan_delcan) March 16, 2020

“Stay home. It’s all we can do,” Juan Delcan wrote on Twitter.

Delcan, 54, directed the 3D clip, while his partner, Valentina Izaguirre, designed and styled the set.
“We wanted to reach younger people who are not taking this seriously,” Izaguirre, 48, told TODAY. “One of the most touching messages we received, was from a kid who said our visual helped him to realize the severity of the situation.”

© Courtesy of Valentina Izaguirre and Juan Delcan Juan Delcan and Valentina Izaguirre are created an animated video with matches to illustrate how social distancing can stop the spread of Coronavirus. (Courtesy of Valentina Izaguirre and Juan Delcan)

The LA-based couple began working with matches about a year ago.

Up until yesterday, their Instagram account showed the wooden sticks engaged in a variety of silly activities such as skiing down a mountain of confectioners sugar and “burning calories” with cotton swab barbells.

“It was just supposed to be cute and fun," Izaguirre said. “Then when this whole thing happened with coronavirus, we understood the meaning of them and the real purpose of what they’re here to do. Our relatives are in Europe, which is the epicenter of the virus right now. We're very worried about the situation."

Delcan said he comes from a family of doctors and nurses.

“I can’t cure people, so this is my contribution,” he explained. “I’m very worried about what is going to happen. People are in denial.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Sunday that people throughout the U.S. should avoid events of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks to slow the spread of Coronavirus.

The virus, which is transmitted from person-to person, has reached every state except West Virginia.

Coronavirus Patient Speaks from Hospital Bed on Social Distancing: 'Stay Away from Other People

A hospitalized Ohio man recovering from coronavirus is warning others to take social distancing seriously as the virus continues to spread across the country.

Kevin Harris, 55, said he is “not out of the woods, but… better every day” as he continues treatment at Mercy Health St. Joseph Warren Hospital in Warren — but that wasn’t always the case.

Harris said in a Facebook Live video filmed Friday night that his symptoms began on March 2 with a small cough, which soon led to body aches and a fever. The father of four assumed it was the flu, as he did not have a sore throat or runny nose.

“I never had any signs until the night… I started coughing,” he said. “That was the first sign and it went downhill in 24 hours, like gangbusters. I woke up several times thinking I was gonna die.”
Harris said he was “one cough from going into cardiac arrest” when a friend came to take him to the hospital, where he was admitted on March 8, WJW reported. He tested positive for coronavirus on March 11, making him the fifth confirmed case in the state of Ohio, according to NBC affiliate WKYC.

Speaking from his hospital bed with an oxygen hose in his nose, he emphasized the importance of social distancing, or keeping significant distance from others so as to reduce the risk of breathing in droplets produced by the coughs and sneezes of infected people.

“Do not go in the crowds. Do not shake hands. Stop hugging each other,” he said. “Wash your hands continually. Do not kiss on your kids. There are thousands of people carrying this virus around. They may never get it.”

He doubled down on his plea in a Skype interview with WKYC, once again urging people to avoid others for the time being.

“People need to stay away from other people. They call it social distancing — I say just be anti-social. Just stay away from other people,” Harris said. “This thing is deathly dangerous. Treat everybody like it’s the zombie apocalypse. Don’t trust nothing anybody touches.”

In his Facebook video, Harris said he became ill despite not having gone many places for two weeks prior. He believes he contracted the virus while at a check-up at the Cleveland Clinic.

Since falling ill, which he likened to “drowning on dry land,” he says he’s certain he has not exposed anyone else to the virus, as he was holed up in his home for two weeks.

“I promised certain officials that I would tell people they can get through this,” he said. “Don’t be scared. You can live through this. But you’ve got to start taking care of yourself.”

Harris is one of 37 confirmed cases in Ohio, and one of at least 3,602 in the United States, according to The New York Times.

Social distancing has been embraced by cities and states across the country, many of which have closed bars, music venues and schools as a means of keeping people from gathering in large crowds.