CABOT, Ark. — A Cabot woman is begging for Arkansans to stay home.
As an ER nurse, she sees the effect daily. As a wife, she's experiencing it even more.
Her husband is one of the 90,000 military members impacted.
By tearing off a chain-link each day and eating a Hershey's kiss, Faith Ealy and her three-year-old son have been counting down the days daddy comes home from deployment.
"He's on hold and in limbo until COVID-19 calms down because they're trying to keep military safe," Ealy said.
An Arkansas Air National Guard spokesperson said about 20 guardsmen in the area have been affected by the 'stop movement' orders.
"Everything was going normal like a normal military deployment and then when COVID-19 started, there was concern that they could be delayed," Ealy said.
He was supposed to return soon, but last week, a 60-day stop movement order was issued for all DoD uniformed and civilian personnel overseas.
This is an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and Ealy understands the concerns.
"We're talking every day about how people need to stay home, how important it is. But, one thing I think they don't consider is the actions that it has on other people when they go out," Ealy said.
As an emergency room nurse, she worries what will happen if people on the homefront don't take social distancing guidelines seriously and put others at risk.
"My husband could be gone for more time than imaginable than even planned, months and months and months until this calms down and people don't even think about that," Ealy said.
Ealy said protecting her children is also a big concern.
"I worry every day about bringing the virus home to my little boys or to my family members, but with my husband gone, it's not like I can just quarantine them somewhere," Ealy said.
Her husband was able to briefly meet their newborn son and she's hoping to have a return date so her boys can start counting down the days once more.