Social Distancing Measure to Combat COVID-19

The global pandemic of COVID-19 is undeniably dangerous to the world population. It can seem overwhelming, but in fact, every person has the ability to help in slowing down the spread of COVID-19. This is why – By doing our part, we can together make a big difference to our health and that of others around us.

It may be disappointing for a lot of people to know that many events, festivals and social gatherings are being cancelled. There is a public health reason for these measures as these cancellations give a great impact in slowing down the spread of the disease and allowing the health care system to more readily care for patients over time. And this is how “flattening the curve” strategy can be achieved.

Cancelling events and festival that are likely to draw big crowds is an example of social distancing, which is deliberately done to increase the physical space between people to avoid the spread of virus between a person to another person within the distance. Staying at least six feet away from other people in fact lessens your chances of catching COVID-19.

Still, there are people keep ignoring the measure and continue to gather in large numbers at restaurants, bars and events, suggesting that there is confusion around what social distancing is and who should be practicing it. This is deeply worrying as there is person who never even know they are infected and has the possibility to continuously propel the exponential movement of the virus through the population.

Put simply, the idea of social distancing is to maintain a distance between you and other people. World Health Organization mentions social distancing as maintaining at least 1 metre (3 feet) between you and other person. That also means minimizing contact with people, avoiding public transportation whenever possible, limit non-essential travel, work from home and skip social gatherings including crowded bars and sporting arenas.

Practicing frequent hand washing and self-quarantine in case you have any symptoms at all or have recently traveled to the impacted countries are overall a small sacrifice and inconvenience that will ultimately help everyone in the world. Keeping a safe distance doesn’t just help keep you healthy, but it could save the life of someone more vulnerable to the disease.

Other examples of social distancing to avoid larger crowds are:

• Working from home
• Closing schools, colleges and universities, and switching to online classes
• Meeting loved ones via electronic devices and medias instead of in person
• Cancelling conferences and large meetings

In the meantime, in this era we are lucky enough to have technologies at hand that can maintain social connections between family and friends. Thus it is possible to achieve the social distancing measure while keeping ourselves entertained as well as connected to the world. Let’s combat COVID-19 together and give hope for the future.