My friend Payne is on the autism spectrum and therefore sees things far more clearly than most of us. This is what he has to say:

I heard on the news the other day that a health official was being interviewed. In the interview he said something along the lines of that people would listen to Kendall Jenner before they listen to someone like him, which is why people on social media need to talk about how important it is to shelter in place, wash your hands, use a face mask, all the stuff everybody has been saying to do.

I agree, while I know that not everyone will do these things, we still need to take precautions and do all the things health officials tell us to do to slow and eventually stop the spread of the virus.

I also think that if our government had taken this virus seriously from the beginning, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in right now and have to do these things. The government has downplayed this virus for so long and that has caused our country to almost come to a standstill. If they had taken this virus seriously we would be safer and less panicked as we are now, but this is the way things are at the moment and because of that we need to come together.

We need to listen to what health care officials say and do what we can to slow and eventually stop the spread of the virus. I know it can be tough to do all these things but the more people do them, the healthier we can get.

When this pandemic is over however, we cannot forget this virus and all the suffering it caused, otherwise we won’t be ready for when and if the next one hits