“We stay here for you. Please stay home for us.”

That’s the message being passed around in a viral photos by medical workers around the world. The images are a reminder to others that they should do their part to “flatten the curve” as doctors, nurses and others face a predicted surge in COVID-19 patients.

“It’s so that health care system and workers don’t get overwhelmed,” wrote Rose Manrique, a nurse in San Diego. (Full disclosure: Manrique is my cousin.) “They are asking people to stay home so they can care for patients at a reasonable rate.”

If people are out and about, the rate of infection will increase, according to experts. That will lead to an influx of patients that medical professional professional will have trouble handling and lead to spikes in deaths.

According to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker, the global cases numbered 652,079 as of Saturday afternoon with 116,505 of those being in the United States. The death toll has reached 30,433 with 1,993 of those coming from the United States, according to the Woldometers website, which has tracked the outbreak.

The pandemic has already impacted families of medical workers. Robert Mah, whose daughter works at a Kaiser-Permanente in San Francisco, said she has been admitting patients in emergency for days. “We haven’t seen her for two weeks and will have to wait another two weeks or so before we do,” he wrote in an email. Dr. Cheri Mah is holding the “We” in the image pictured above.

As for other ways to help medical workers, Manrique said they are in dire need of personal protective equipment, otherwise known as PPE.

“If there are business that can donate mask while they are closed it is really helpful,” she said over Facebook Messenger. “For example nail shops (they have mask and gloves), dentist offices (mask/gloves/goggles), medical spas (mask/gloves/gowns). If health care workers are too sick to care for the masses, who will help you if you need someone to manage your ventilators. So please stay home.”

The social media posts below show other hospitals and medical workers voicing the same message.