Do We Really Need to Stay Apart?

After a month of a stay at home guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and mandates in 43 states, our sense of community and our economy have taken a huge hit. Balancing the eager need for the shutdown to end with the dire need to keep Americans safe, administrations are scrambling for ways to get their message across to their constituents through press briefings and PSAs to heed the stay home and social distancing orders to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

Ohio’s state health department launched an impressive ad campaign that uses fear tactics to get its point across. The ad’s simplicity uses a clever visual of a carpet of mousetraps with ping pong balls abutting each other that turns into a chain-reaction of flips and bursts triggered by one single ball. Coupled with strong rhythmic drum beats that resembles a nervous heartbeat, this visual makes a strong case for the explosive nature of the spread of COVID-19. The next scene depicts the alternative — mouse traps set across the room with much more space between them that allows the one ball to bounce through without causing chaos. A simple line closes the ad, “A little space makes us all safer—together.”

The ad’s succinct message is something that nightmares are made of yet it bluntly aligns with real life. A sobering finding  by the CDC that a community outbreak in Chicago with 16 cases and resulted in 3 deaths was due to one single introduction of the virus. This cluster was spread through a funeral and a birthday party. 

Ultimately, among the ads across the country that range from appeals to emotion and even humor, the Ohio ad stands out with the strongest visualization that hits the mark. 

Having experienced a death in the family (non-COVID19 related), a family member’s hospitalization, and my own birthday during the last three months that have been shadowed by the coronavirus, I can personally understand the pain of not being able to be close to family and friends. I am as eager as anyone for this crisis to end but I would rather not risk a series of explosions of this virus around me. The message from the Ohio ad is loud and clear –  we really do need to stay apart for the sake of everyone’s safety.