Plain English TL:DR on the new @SaintLouCo @StLCountyDOH health orders:

Safer at Home is NOT a shutdown order.

Here's what else it means:

+ Stay home as much as possible. Necessary things like doc visits or shopping for ESSENTIALS are exceptions. (1/8)

+ No one is telling businesses to shut down.

Businesses are limited to 25% capacity/fire code.

Restaurants should close indoor dining, but patio, curbside, and delivery are still good to go! (2/8)

+ No one is telling you to cut off human contact.

Stick to your pod of 10 or fewer people. Pods = people you socialize with regularly -- another household, your family, etc. That pod is their pod, too. This limits the exponential viral spread should someone be infected. (3/8)

+ Leaving the house? Wear your mask.

Seriously. Just wear it.

This includes when you're with your pod. Even outdoors. Even if you trust them. That's not the point.

Kids older than 5 need masks. Kids 3-5 are encouraged to. (4/8)

+ If you get a positive COVID-19 test result, tell your pod ASAP.

If you've been around someone with a positive result, even if one or both of you were wearing masks, GET TESTED.
(5/8)

This last point is implicit, but a lot of people seem to be missing it.

Masks aren't the ONLY solution.

Masks, distancing, capacity restrictions, hygiene, safer at home orders ALL address the COVID-19 pandemic.
(6/8)

No single effort is enough. These things work in conjunction to decrease spread with every barrier the virus faces.

You can't opt into one prophylactic and not the others and assume you've done your duty. That's now enough.

"Better Together" of a different sort.
(7/8)

HOWEVER, masks are the most visible way people can demonstrate that they're doing what they can to uplift public health and protect each other.

In short, none of this is about "you". It's all about how "we" thrive and survive together. (8/8)