Today marks 15 days since I was last in the classroom in front of students. I’ve been sheltering in place since March 6, participating in meetings via videoconferencing and completing work that will result in the close of the winter quarter today. I have made a plan to live and work this way until June out of an abundance of caution.

As COVID-19 testing increases and the need for critical supplies becomes more urgent, our job is to follow directions. My former admin at Washington Mutual is now a compassionate nurse working on the front lines, and had this to say yesterday: “As some of you complain about staying at home, the frontlines would want those options too but they don’t. As you fear to be exposed and some of you think you are super humans, those who are in the frontline are fearing of their lives every minute that they are at work, and guess what, the fear doesn’t stop there, they come home , and monitor themselves making sure they don’t develop symptoms, and if they don’t, they come to work again. Please do your share. Yes we chose this profession, but you also have a choice to protect us. Please please, this will pass, but for now, please do your share.”

Doing one’s share in this instance means not congregating in groups, observing a distance of six feet between yourself and the next person in line, and working from home wherever possible. It means not badgering your doctor for a coronavirus test or an experimental drug when you have no symptoms. It means exhibiting care and courtesy to your neighbors even as you are trying to home school your children or share a slow internet connection for work-related meetings.

Things could be a lot worse, though the economic forecast is bleak already. The clear path to recovery lies in following directions, preferably without whining. Whining just uses up energy better directed to the new normal.