Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has been a man under the glare of publicity of late, right along with local officials at all levels who are dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

It is taking a toll on the county he governs, with incidents of disease rising hourly, let alone daily. Today he issued a “shelter in place” order for Dallas County. If you live in Dallas County, stay home unless you’ve got some necessary errands to run.

He actually went on the air today to ask us all to do something that is going to make a lot of Americans uncomfortable. I am going to take him seriously.

Jenkins asks us that if we’re out and about running “essential” errands to counsel folks we might see who aren’t practicing “social distancing.” He asked us, in the event we see individuals who are standing or walking too closely to each other, to “politely remind” them about the social distancing requirement. Just say, “six feet,” he said.

Got it? So, if you’re going to the grocery store and you see folks standing within the six-foot minimum, you’re being asked to tell ’em to spread out.

My wife and I have been quite careful. We’re holed up in our house in next-door Collin County. We don’t go out much at all. I went to the hardware store briefly this weekend to purchase something for my lawnmower; I also went to the grocery store to purchase a package of toilet tissue (hooray!) and some antiseptic wipes.

We are following the guidelines handed out by Gov. Greg Abbott and also by the federal response team working with Donald Trump to manage the crisis.

It’s going to take some nerve that I’ll need to muster if I see someone not following the rules. I’ll give it a shot and see what happens … whenever I decide to leave the house.