Southlake DPS Cpl. Delaney Green took to the headquarters balcony earlier this week to sing an important message: “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.” It didn’t take long for her advice to stick.
After a national state emergency was declared last week due to the spreading coronavirus, Southlake DPS Public Information Officer Brad Uptmore was thinking of different ways to inform the community on how to practice social distancing. After watching videos of quarantined residents singing on balconies to keep their spirits up in Italy, he got his inspiration.
“I knew that once I saw the Italy balcony videos taking off that I wanted to do something similar,” Uptmore recalls. “We have that balcony at HQ that overlooks Carroll, so I knew that's where I'd film it, and I knew that I'd use Cpl. Green because she is not a great singer at all.”
After reserving one morning to take Cpl. Green up to the balcony and film her singing “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” by The Police, Uptmore edited it and published it by Thursday afternoon. Uptmore says he hopes that people take away from the video is the importance of social distancing by at least six feet during this time.
The main tips he offered were to wash your hands in warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds, stay home and don’t go into heavily trafficked areas. He also encouraged residents to stay up to date on the CDC's main webpage, as well as local county and city updates.
“More information is coming out every day,” Uptmore expresses. “Luckily we live in a time where we get that information immediately and don't have to wait for tomorrow's newspaper.”
You can watch the full video on Southlake DPS’ Facebook or Twitter page.