Ohanian exhorted people to stay at home to halt the spread of the virus.

On Saturday, passersby in New York’s Times Square may have been bemused to see a billboard saying “Staying home means saving lives,” with the hashtag “#FlattenTheCurve” at the bottom. Said billboard was purchased by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to slow down the spread of the virus. (Forbes)

Slowing the spread of the pandemic

Speaking to Forbes Ohanian said the idea struck him on Thursday. He realized it would be a good way to get the message across to people not yet taking the coronavirus outbreak seriously.

However, “#FlattenTheCurve” refers to a healthcare term about slowing down the spread of a pandemic to better manage the number of illnesses.

#StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/TtrIET3yNI

— AlexisOhanian7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) March 15, 2020

According to Forbes, Ohanian purchased the Billboard using ADQuick, a digital outdoor advertising start-up. Ohanian’s venture capital firm Initialized Capital has invested in AdQuick.

“It was a deliberate approach to think what is one of the densest populations of people in the U.S. and on a normal day that would be Times Square,” Ohanian told Forbes. “And then you have this cultural prominence. The sort of meme of it is here is a billboard in Times Square about flattening the curve, just preventative measures to defeat COVID-19.”

Ohanian’s family is walking his talk

Ohanian married Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion. Many consider her to be the greatest female tennis player of all time.

In an Instagram post last week she announced her plans to spend “the next six weeks in solitude” considering the coronavirus pandemic spreading across the country.

The couple has a 2-year-old daughter.

Williams said she plans to focus on “Being a wife. Being a mom. Cooking. Cleaning. Spring cleaning. Face mask. Makeup tutorials. I’ll let you know how it goes…. stay safe everyone.”

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