Be smart about COVID-19. The life you save could be somebody’s baby grandson | Opinion

Two years ago, my daughter lost a baby to a virus. His name was Will, and he had an incredibly strong will to live. But after 96 days of fighting, he succumbed and passed away.

Will was born healthy and, when he came home from the hospital at 3 days old, he was ready to begin a long and productive life. Then, suddenly, his condition changed. A common virus, one that might not even present symptoms if contracted by a grown-up, quickly ravaged every organ in his vulnerable newborn body.

Through that unimaginable ordeal, we learned a great many lessons. Most profoundly, we learned that the things that cause us day-to-day stress aren’t really that important. And we learned a few basic rules of virus prevention from the healthcare experts: Keep a healthy distance from others, wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face.

When news of the coronavirus started to get louder in early March, my daughter took charge of her own environment and cleaned a little more deeply, got tougher on instituting a rigorous hand-washing discipline and pulled back on interactions outside of the household. In my business world, we took action, too, instituting telecommuting and teleconferencing — and as chair of the Florida Council of 100, I instituted discussions of similar strategies with business leaders throughout the state.

The point is that we — and most certainly my daughter, who comprehends firsthand the devastating effect a virus can have on a vulnerable loved one — did not wait for a directive from the president or the governor.

Instead, we took action.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been navigating between two equally distinct voices, one arguing for a total shutdown of human movement and the other pushing to keep the economy moving and the state open for business. Regardless of where you stand in that debate, I believe the governor’s leadership in issuing his statewide Safer At Home order has been nothing short of stellar, and we should realize how fortunate we are to have such leadership in this time of crisis. As the debate continues, I offer no advice to the governor, just a thanks and a vote of confidence.

For every other Floridian, I do have some advice: Be a leader. Like my amazing daughter, take responsibility for what you are responsible for: yourself, your children, your household, your community. Respect your coworkers and neighbors, and stay safe at home or respectfully separated from others while undertaking essential activities and work. Understand that while you may believe yourself invincible, someone you come into contact with might not be — someone like my little grandson Will.

The responsibility for getting through this pandemic is not solely the governor’s — it’s on all of us. We’re all in this — and we will get through this — together. Let’s each do our part.

Chris Corr is chair of the Florida Council of 100, president of Raydient, Inc. and senior vice president of Rayonier, a real estate investment trust based in Jacksonville, FL. For more information on Will’s story, visit www.willkingfoundation.com