This pilot wrote an important message in the sky for everyone: 'Stay home'

During the Coronavirus epidemic, reports and forecasts have shown that there is only one way to effectively mitigate or slow down the spread of the deadly illness and that is through self-isolation. If you want to help make a positive impact as this public health crisis worsens, the best way to do so is simply by staying home under quarantine. Only step out of your home if you absolutely must. Unfortunately, some people have chosen to actively ignore these recommendations and still go out for non-necessary activities. This means that the Coronavirus is likely to spread at a faster rate. In order to remind citizens of the importance of staying home, this pilot took to the skies to share a critical message, CNN reports.

The unnamed pilot hopped into a plane and decided to try his hand at digital skywriting. You've probably seen that done before for proposals and other happier situations. During the Coronavirus epidemic, however, this pilot had something a little more important to announce. Using his aircraft like an Etch A Sketch, as David Williams writing for CNN described it, the pilot spelled out "stay home" via flight radar. The message was picked up by the website Flightradar24, who tweeted out a photo of the message. The photo quickly went viral, with dozens of individuals reacting to the pilot's actions.

Since it was first posted, the tweet has received over 13,000 likes and 6,000 responses. Some people pointed out the irony of his message; after all, he did have to leave his own home in order to complete his skywriting. One user thus posted, "A pilot who left home to fly his plane to send a message for people to stay home. The exact thing he didn't do." Others, however, pointed out that he could have written his message with zero social interaction, which is ultimately the point of staying home. Another Twitter user replied, "Except flying a plane requires zero face-to-face interaction. [He could] file [the] flight plan digitally, communicate with tower via radio, [and] arrive alone, fly alone, land alone, leave alone."

The pilot reportedly wrote the message during a 24-minute flight earlier this week on Monday. He took off from an airport in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. This region is located about 50 miles south of Vienna. As per health officials in the European country, Austria has recorded a total of 1,843 cases of Coronavirus as of Thursday morning. Nonetheless, several dozens of Austrian citizens may have contracted the disease without even knowing it - because people refuse to stay at home. Thankfully, Austria, too, has instituted lockdowns across the country. In addition to this, they have also imposed numerous travel restrictions. These precautionary measures are expected to slow down the spread of the deadly Coronavirus and "flatten the curve." This means while the number of citizens who contract the disease may not necessarily be lower than if self-isolation weren't imposed, it will slow down the process so a country's public health system is not overburdened. This pilot was simply reminding people to stay indoors and do their part to help flatten the curve.

Disclaimer: Information about COVID-19 is swiftly changing, and Upworthy is committed to providing the most recent and verified updates in our articles and reportage. However, considering the frequency in developments, some of the information/data in this article may have changed since the time of publication. Therefore, we encourage you to also regularly check online resources from local public health departments, the Centers for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization.