To practice social distancing… stay 6 feet away
In order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, we need to slow it down. And one of the best ways to do that is through social distancing, a public health intervention that encourages people to avoid well, other people. That means events with large crowds such as weddings, concerts, sports, have been cancelled. And places where people congregate publicly — like restaurants — are not seating customers. Even schools and offices are closing. The overall guideline for this best practice: stay six feet away.
Today in CNN News from Miami. A bunch of spring breakers who are like all in their teens or early 20s talking about how, like, they didn’t want to ruin their fun. But the thing is, young people can get this disease and not necessarily get the worse symptoms or necessarily die from it in high numbers, but they can disproportionately spread it to some of the most vulnerable people among us. And so you don’t want to be the cause of someone’s death.
The second one is to obey your public health department. This one, yes, there is a general recommendation or guideline from the federal government that we should not congregate in groups of 10 people. But depending on where you live, in your situation and in your city or state, the situation will look very different.
For example, in the Bay Area, people are being asked to shelter in place, which basically means like don’t leave the home under most conditions, if not necessary at all. So listen to your public health department or mayor’s office or sometimes governor’s office.
And remember, too, like the overall federal guidelines. Groups of 10 or more, you should really avoid it. And, you know, and also, like when in doubt, avoid, if you find yourself thinking, “Oh, do I really need to go see this person?” And if the answer is no, like, there’s just so much not known about this virus. And also because testing hasn’t been very good and widespread. We don’t know where it is. And unfortunately, right now in this really uncertain period where it is starting to spread exponentially, better safe than sorry may be a good place to start.
Commandment 3 is if you feel sick, any member of your household feels sick, or if you feel like you’ve been exposed to this virus, please stay home. Please quarantine yourself, or if you’re sick, put yourself in isolation and do not touch or contact or go near people who are not sick.
This is a big one too. Commandment 4, Social distancing is a little bit of a misnomer. It’s physical distancing. We’re supposed to be physically apart from one another. But that doesn’t mean we can’t care about each other and be checking on each other. So like social distancing does not mean emotional distancing, does not mean letting people be lonely by themselves, especially the older people who may not have a lot of mobility to begin with and are now even more isolated because, you know, we’re being told not to go near older people. So check in on them.
Commandment 5 is a simple one, too. We have to remember one number, actually five is six, because you’re supposed to say six feet away from other people. This virus spreads by droplets that spread out of your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. And six feet is like the splash zone. So if you can, if you have to go out, try to maintain six feet of distance between other people.
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