For many people, social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic means not seeing your loved ones. But that hasn’t stopped some from finding creative ways to share milestone moments with their family members.
Like many nursing homes and rehabilitation centers across the country, Premier Living and Rehab Center in Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, has closed its facility to visitors, except “in an end-of-life circumstance [or] on a case-by-case basis.”
One young woman was undeterred, though. With a little help from the staff at Premier, and with a glass window separating them, she was able to share the exciting news of her engagement with her grandfather.
The decision to share the news of the engagement through the window comes as the U.S. is dealing with the spread of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, which is statistically more severe for those who are elderly or immunocompromised.
The grandfather and granddaughter in North Carolina aren’t the only ones finding creative ways to spend time with others while also practicing social distancing.
One woman, Ginny Bryant, said she invited people in her neighborhood to come out to their driveways to eat dinner at 5 p.m. every evening. “Tonight,” she wrote, “we brought tea and wine (and a table cloth) and yelled across the street.”
Sandy Hamilton, who works for an assisted living facility in Minnesota, shared a photo of a father and son, who speak to each other every day on the phone while the son sits right outside the window of his dad’s room.
She described it as the “sweetest thing ever.”
This is the reality for right now. It won’t be how it is forever, but it is for today. So far, COVID-19 has killed at least 95 Americans and some 5,200 have been diagnosed with the virus.
The goal with social distancing — remaining at home except in cases of medical emergency or to get household supplies or food — is to “flatten the curve,” to tamp down on the anticipated spike in those who will need clinical attention due to the symptoms of the disease. It’s important for young and healthy people, many of whom could carry COVID-19 without knowing it, to follow all precautions to slow the spread of the virus, particularly among those who are at higher risk of developing complications.
Please continue to pray for our leaders, nationally and locally, as well as for the medical personnel around the country. Also pray for and extend grace to one another, because each of us are figuring this out together.
Here are some simple guidelines from the CDC you can follow to help slow the spread of the Coronavirus and save lives:
