Social distancing is a practice of maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet from people. It also includes limiting face to face interaction, gathering in crowds of more than 4 people and staying away from crowded places. COVID-19 spreads among people when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks and droplets from their nose or mouth reaches people around them. These droplets can also be inhaled into the lungs.
The next thing here is keeping ourselves from contaminated surfaces. COVID-19 (Virus) can live on surfaces and objects for many number days depending on factors like sunlight and humidity. Practising social distancing will limit us from being infected through contaminated surfaces.
Few tips to practice social distancing:
- Stay at least 6 feet between yourself and others, even if you wear a mask.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a mask when you are around people, even in a grocery store.
- Avoid gathering in groups either private places or public spaces, like a friend’s house, restaurant, bar shops or any such places.
- Work from home when possible.
- Avoid using public transportation, and taxis.
- Order groceries and medicines online and have them home delivered.
- Most importantly follow the request and conditions brought forth by the government for our well-being.
So, now that we have been social distancing ourselves, It helps break and slow the chain of transmission from person to person. People could be spreading the virus and show symptoms only after 5 days. ‘It’s better to be safe than be than sorry.’ And this is our only option to fight the virus now. People who are at the ‘epicentre’ or ‘hot spot’ that is, places prone to the infection have to be careful. Children and frail elders are at risk of being easily impacted by this disease. Extra care needs to be taken, especially older people with a serious chronic health condition. We all need to practice social distancing, and given the condition we are in right now following certain basic actions, like washing our hands frequently, wearing masks and covering our cough is critical. It is more important to understand and follow what we may be asked or required to do.
At this given situation, what’s most important is we being responsible about the impact, not practising social distancing may have on our surrounding and us. Though this can be stressful and emotional for us, we could use a call, video calling, connecting through social media and chat as mediums to stay connected with our family and friends. Honestly, no one knows when we can stop this practice, most likely this condition may last for some time along with the other ban’s imposed. One more factor that could majorly aid in the recovery rate from this disease. Another possibility is when a vaccine is available to treat this.
Having said all this, we as a community need to step up practice social and physical distancing, because our lives are at stake. And preserving lives have to be a focus now. Everyone has a role to play, in slowing the spread down, protecting themselves, their family and their community.
