Ladies and gentlemen, the great state of Iowa has begun to open up the doors to various businesses again.

Here and there, I am beginning to see “open” signs lighting up again, lines outside of shops, and a noticeable increase in people walking around outside. Dear Gov. Kim Reynolds has eased restrictions, and that must mean that it is fine and dandy to go out, right? Well, as the headline suggests, no, it’s not a great idea to go out.

I will not mince words with you — the past two months have been awful for most of us, and it’s been difficult to get through this while you’re stuck behind a window in your home looking out. Many people’s physical health has faltered, and even more people are experiencing a significant decline in their mental health. We are all clamoring to get out of our homes and back into a somewhat “normal” routine again, but this can’t happen when the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise daily.

If you want to check it out for yourself, the “COVID-19 in Iowa” website displays the current number of cases in Iowa. You can check how many cases have been confirmed within the last 24 hours, check cases by age group, and read the overall number of cases, recovered or otherwise, in the state.

One look at this website makes it clear that Iowa cannot afford to let us all return to the wild like we all wish we could. Right now, though we’ve experienced some decline from the previous month, our state is scrambling to catch up with the drop in positive cases seen in other states that implemented a stay-at-home order. This means that we need to work extra hard to further “flatten the curve” in Iowa.

These next few weeks should be viewed as an opportunity to get ahead and practice optimal social distancing skills so that, eventually, we can all go out into the world and enjoy social activities again.

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This is an opportunity for those of us who can afford to do so to band together and continue to limit our social interactions for now. It is important to remember that this advice isn’t just because of scary internet articles, or because someone told us to.

We as a community, as a state, must keep in mind the thousands of Iowans who are elderly, immunocompromised, and have other pre-existing conditions that social distancing helps. It is these people that we have to keep thinking about. With every day that you socially distance, there are more at-risk people who avoid being potentially exposed to the novel coronavirus.

I understand that being cooped up inside is hard, and sometimes it feels like your head will just explode if you have to spend one more day indoors, but when our state is one of the earliest to begin easing restrictions while the number of cases spikes, we as a people must be vigilant and watch out for one another.

This quarantine is so much bigger than me and you, and a collective effort to continue to socially distance ourselves has the potential to make our state safer while our world seems so uncertain. Additionally, if we continue to socially distance, our overall time in quarantine will be much shorter than if everyone floods the streets right away.

So please, keep up the social distancing for a while longer. Not only will it help our time of quarantine be over sooner, but it could very well save lives. Despite our state’s government officials allowing the state to reopen, the safe thing to do is to continue to stay at home for now.

Eventually, we can all go dance in the streets together and celebrate in knowing that we did the right thing. Until then, keep baking bread, or painting, or re-watching your favorite reality show.

We can and we will get through this.