Stay home if you are sick, even if you think it’s just a cold or allergies. It’s the responsible thing to do. Area employers should do all they can for their employees and offer them the opportunity to work from home if that is feasible. That, too, is the responsible thing to do.

The North Dakota Health Department and health care facilities across the state all offer a helpful list of symptoms of the novel coronavirus on their websites. The most serious cases may require hospitalization but most people will recover without problems. Still, a sizable number of people who have been infected may not even know they are sick or just think they have a bad cold. Those are the people who may have unknowingly spread the virus in this area over the past few weeks while they went out shopping or to work or school or socialized with their friends. Some of the most recent cases of coronavirus identified by the state health department are cases of community transmission. People who have a mild case of the virus may have passed it along to someone else who will become a lot more sick and will require hospitalization.

Hospitals risk becoming overwhelmed with coronavirus patients and may not have enough equipment or personal protective gear for their medical personnel. That puts everyone at risk, including people who need medical care for conditions other than coronavirus. This is why staying home when you are sick and helping to slow transmission of this virus is so vital.