Social Distancing

The time for social distancing needs to be enforced immediately. You might ask what social distancing is? Every action that we take and every way in which we can hold back from the public sphere in order to limit the opportunities for transmission is an opportunity truly to save a life. Indefinite, our lives are going to look radically different in the past few weeks or even months than they would typically do. Limit your face to face interactions, work remotely whenever possibly. We should have No handshakes, No high-fives, no hugs outside the home. Stand six feet or more away from any person you're encountering in a public space. Severely restrict the travels from city to city. We are limiting that to truly urgent matters like groceries or emergencies. Limit your engagement in the public sphere. Do not attend group gatherings and do not go to sports events. What this ultimately does is to prevent contact with droplets when people sneeze cough or spit. We have to minimize our contacts with others. Limit it to what's necessary.

An important consideration is that the movement of the population is the fuel for continued spread. The coronavirus is marked as a fast spread virus because it is undetectable when spread, and usually, symptoms do not show in 2 weeks or so, so in that range, you could have spread the virus to multiply in just one day. In the 1918 flu, there was this massive movement of troops across the United States. That troops at one time were and perhaps remain the perfect vehicle for continuing the spread of the deadly disease called influenza. People may think that this is different if you're traveling from a spring break. In reality, there is not any difference between that kind of movement for wartime personnel needs and the movement of the people because they want to get to the beach. We do not want to have prolonged contact with other humans in a confined space and what is a flight if not prolonged contact with other humans in a confined space. In conclusion, don't do it if it's not necessary.

Many people are dependent upon public transportation to get to work. There might be some risk reduction practices people could adopt, such as trying to ride at off-peak times. If you are able to walk or ride your bike, please do that. Its probability is safer, from an infection perspective, to drive one's own car, rather than to use public transit. However every public health person hates saying that. For taking care for the elderly we need to limit our contact with the outside world radically, especially primary caregivers. For elders who are able to take care of their own activities of daily living, take the CDC advice more seriously to stay at home and call them multiple times throughout the day. We don't know when social distancing will end or when our social life will be back. It is essential to limit our risk of the outside world and to make sure we are not endangering people who are most vulnerable upon contact with the virus.