There is a phrase becoming all too familiar these days that expresses the opinion that something once taken for granted should now be looked at more seriously. One of the nicer ways to say it is “the crap just got real.”

While the phrase is pretty simplistic and crude, we think the adaptation we saw recently expresses our world today better: Nothing changed to make it real; you just started to pay real attention.

Nowhere are these lines more appropriate than in the discussion of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Every day when we post the most recent facts and statistics released by Butler Health System and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, we can expect the same people to tack on comments such as “hoax, lies, tell us about the pre- existing conditions, the hospital is faking the results to get paid more, and it’s just the flu.”

As community leaders, following the advice of the local doctors and hospitals, turn up the heat and attention on the second wave of COVID-19 to attack the community, we are hoping that even the strongest naysayers will grasp the seriousness of the situation and start paying more attention.

The craziness of the election is over (except the endless counting and lawsuits), so don’t bother trying to make the claim that the virus is just a political volleyball. The only commonality with volleyball is that the spike is volleyball’s most deadly play, and the spike in COVID-19 will also be deadly. COVID-19 is not a game.

Butler County suffered economically through spring and summer and now into fall, but the real experts (not internet doctors) are warning us and the numbers prove that winter will probably bring the worst of the virus to us and very soon. We can either “get real” and do what each of us can to help control this or the state is guaranteed to step in and force their rule on us. Go ahead; jump up and down and shout that he can’t. But as sure as God made little green apples, Gov. Wolf can and will put pressure on anyone who needs a state license to operate to follow his rules or lose that license.

None of us wants to keep spending what little revenue we still have on lawyers and lobbyists.

Keep in mind the state has unlimited financial means and more lawyers than Carter has pills. (If you know what Carter Liver Pills were then you are in a higher risk category and should be very concerned. If you don’t know that phrase, you should google it and learn something true on the internet for a change.) They have the capacity and the stubbornness to wait us out. We don’t want Harrisburg controlling our local economy or our health care. Haven’t they screwed up enough?

Over the next few days and weeks, we will be running stories and advertisements that will be endorsed by community leaders. These are people who have earned your trust and your attention.

They are all sincerely asking you to follow the recommendations of health care professionals who are just trying to keep all of us —but especially the weakest among us —safe and healthy.

Don’t take chances. If you don’t believe masks protect you, wear one anyway to protect someone else. If you don’t believe the experts, err on the side of caution just in case the internet doctors are wrong.

Our hospitals stayed strong and viable through the early waves of the virus. We can’t let our greed be a negative factor in causing our hospitals to be overrun and our health care employees to be placed in danger for their own health.

We all are asking, begging, pleading and leading for the sake of the community; please follow the advice of real health care professionals. The life you save may not be your own but your friend’s, your neighbor’s or a loved one’s. Isn’t that worth a little extra effort on your part?

— RV