Former professional baseball and football player Bo Jackson hopes his name recognition will reinforce the message that people can stop the spread of the coronavirus by following health experts’ instructions to remain at home or staying at least 6 feet apart if they do go outside.
Jackson is part of a group promoting “The Cure is US” social media campaign, that encourages individual responsibility and collective action as the most effective way to combat COVID-19.
The Cure is US website, thecureis.us, states a vaccine for the virus is a year or more away. Therefore, “We need to stop waiting for someone else to figure this out and start doing what we can, each one of us, today, to stamp out COVID-19.”
“Everybody needs to follow the directions of the (Centers for Disease Control),” Jackson, who lives in Burr Ridge, said as he hung a banner with “The Cure is Us” slogan and website address at the entrance to the Burr Ridge Village Center.
Similar banners have been placed at the intersection of Plainfield and County Line roads and some area McDonald’s restaurants, said Lisa Stafford of Stafford Communications.
“It’s just simple. We have to get control of this,” said Jackson, who in the 1980s and ’90s played for the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals and the California Angels in Major League Baseball and for the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League.
Jackson said a few of his friends, including area resident Matt Cook and Jeff Graham, contacted him about an idea to rally people together and help the country get through the coronavirus crisis.
Jackson said staying at home is not hard for him.
“I don’t socialize that much,” Jackson said. “I like my privacy.”
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“What worries me is finding out if my friends and family are safe.”
Other athletes and celebrities, such as Olympic gold-medal winning skier Mikaela Schriffin and Ben Higgins from the Bachelor television show, have posted You Tube videos supporting, The Cure is Us campaign.
The Cure is Us website includes graphics people can print and display in their homes and businesses, plus links for ways to provide protective equipment for healthcare workers, to donate blood, to donate money to organizations, including the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the World Health Organization, and other efforts to support the fight against the pandemic.
From the website, messages, such as “Stand together by staying apart,” and “This home would like to say thank you to those who are working to help keep the rest of us safe during this time,” can be shared via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook or printed and placed in people’s front windows.
The website also paraphrases health and government officials’ guidelines in plain language, such as advising the public to use the time at home to “binge watch shamelessly,” and “Panic buying and hoarding stuff like it’s a zombie apocalypse is not cool. Don’t do it.”