A husband and wife artist team are illustrating how social distancing can halt the spread of COVID-19.
In the animated video, which has gone viral with more than three million views, a row of matches are shown catching on fire until one steps aside and stops the blaze in its tracks.
“Stay home. It’s all we can do,” Juan Delcan wrote on Twitter.
Delcan, 54, directed the 3D clip, while his partner, Valentina Izaguirre, designed and styled the set.
“We wanted to reach younger people who are not taking this seriously,” Izaguirre, 48, told TODAY. “One of the most touching messages we received, was from a kid who said our visual helped him to realize the severity of the situation.”
The LA-based couple began working with matches about a year ago.
Up until yesterday, their Instagram account showed the wooden sticks engaged in a variety of silly activities such as skiing down a mountain of confectioners sugar and “burning calories” with cotton swab barbells.
“It was just supposed to be cute and fun," Izaguirre said. “Then when this whole thing happened with coronavirus, we understood the meaning of them and the real purpose of what they’re here to do. Our relatives are in Europe, which is the epicenter of the virus right now. We're very worried about the situation."
Delcan said he comes from a family of doctors and nurses.
“I can’t cure people, so this is my contribution,” he explained. “I’m very worried about what is going to happen. People are in denial.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Sunday that people throughout the U.S. should avoid events of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks to slow the spread of Coronavirus.
The virus, which is transmitted from person-to person, has reached every state except West Virginia.