Taylor Swift was just named one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year — and in an interview with the magazine, she had some choice words for people who aren't following COVID-19 safety guidelines, saying that they're contributing to the "trauma" healthcare workers are facing right now.
It all started when Taylor was asked what she thought about the crowded bars that have been making headlines in her hometown of Nashville, despite clear messaging from the CDC about the importance of social distancing. Swift was quick to call out people who "don't seem to have their eyes open" right now.
"I mean, you just immediately think of the health workers who are putting their lives on the line — and oftentimes losing their lives," she began.
"If they make it out of this, if they see the other side of it, there's going to be a lot of trauma that comes with that. There's going to be things that they witnessed that they will never be able to unsee."
Taylor went on to describe the connection she found between healthcare workers fighting on the front lines of this pandemic, and her grandfather, who fought in World War II.
"I did a lot of research on my grandfather in the beginning of quarantine," she said. "And it hit me very quickly that we've got a version of that trauma happening right now in our hospitals."
And she had a message for all the people who simply "don't care" about how their reckless actions will contribute to the suffering of others:
"God, you hope people would respect it and would understand that going out for a night isn't worth the ripple effect that it causes. But obviously, we're seeing that a lot of people don't seem to have their eyes open to that — or if they do, a lot of people don't care, which is upsetting."
Thank you, Taylor, for using your platform to speak out on this. And please, if you're reading this, stay home as much as you possibly can. You'll save lives (maybe your own), and you'll reduce the stress being placed on frontline workers right now.
