GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Greensboro man now living in Seattle has a message for the Triad – stay home.
Krotich Farmer witnessed the devastation of coronavirus in a city that was hit first, and hit hard.
"Greensboro will always be my home, I miss it," Farmer said.
He was born and raised in Greensboro. He went to Smith High, and GTCC.
But for the last ten years he's called Seattle home.
"It's hard...the city is at a standstill," he explained.
Seattle was first American city to endure the coronavirus outbreak, before it was even a pandemic.
"For a city this size to be completely shut down, it's amazing."
A new University of Washington model suggests most of the state has already reached its peak amount of cases.
But the Triad hasn't, so now Farmer is focused on his family in Greensboro.
"My mom is there, my sisters are there, I have cousins so I am worried."
He says his mother has underlying health conditions, and says you need to take this virus seriously for your own health just as much as the health of others.
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"People take this as a joke, it's not a joke if you want to play with your life that's fine but it's other people you should be concerned about because this is real," he said adamantly.
Farmer is still under a stay-at-home order similar to the North Carolina state stay-at-home order.
"I'm only 10 miles from one of the first outbreaks in Kirkland, Washington," Farmer emphasized. "You can't see it, it's an invisible enemy and people are thinking they can take their chances but you can infect your mother, brother grandparents, anyone."
Even as someone who has seen the worst of it in the state of Washington, he knows things will get better both in Seattle, and in the Triad.
"It's a pretty big deal up here it’s scary, so folks back in the Triad, stay home, stay safe your family needs you," he continued. "We can get through this if we stay away from each other for a little while but we’ll get back to each other soon."
Remember - we’re at the start of a tough two weeks according to health officials.
An infectious Disease expert at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center told WFMY News 2 that the Triad will likely stop seeing a spike in case totals once April ends.