Doing our part

Our guest columnist is Elizabeth Ransom, MD, FACS, chief physician executive for Baptist Health.

You've heard the term social distancing many times recently. And hopefully, we are all practicing it. Social distancing is the single most important thing we can do to mitigate the spread of the virus.

I've limited my venturing out to trips to the grocery store and to go on much-needed runs and walks. I've noticed that it varies how well people maintain their distance. Out in the neighborhood, some people are much closer than six feet apart. If you're going to chat with neighbors, enjoy the brief "Hello" but keep an adequate space among yourselves. People tend to naturally step toward each other during conversations, so be conscious of that. (I am relying more on FaceTime and other social channels to still have face-to-face communication.)

In grocery stores, some people seem more aware of distancing than others. Many grocery stores are limiting the number of people who can enter and some have created aisles for one-way traffic only so people don't have to pass by each other in a narrow space. Those are great ideas, but it's up to you to maintain distance. Whenever you're out, try to focus on being aware of how close people are to you. Don't feel bad about moving a few steps away if someone is too close.

When paying, keep adequate space in the checkout line and as much distance as possible between you and the cashier. I bring my own pen to sign the receipt (I do this for takeout, too) and I wear gloves and a mask when going to the store.

There's been talk about the need to wipe down your groceries. Although it's not entirely clear how long the virus can last on groceries, we do know that it can last on certain surfaces, like cardboard, for some time. To be safe, I wipe down all my groceries before putting them away.

It's easy to fall back into normal routines, so it's important to remain as vigilant as possible. If we can slow down the transmission of the virus, we can flatten the curve and prevent a huge spike in infections that would be hard for health systems to manage. Let's all do our part to get through this.

At Baptist Health, we want to help keep you and your family informed about COVID-19. For more information, visit baptistjax.com/covid19.