Lisa Cannon MD – Why We Practice Social Distancing

Let’s speak honestly here, social distancing is hard to exercise and it is not enjoyable. None of these preventive and protective measures are and if any of us were asked, we would say yes to clicking our fingers and making this entire thing go away, but we cannot. When we consider the more extreme steps of lockdown however, social distancing is not actually that bad.

The reality is, that whilst it may not be much fun, it is social distancing which is enabling us to go out and about, and not be locked down, these are some further reasons why we should maintain social distancing when we are out.

Protect The Vulnerable

One key reason as to why we practice this is that there are many people in society who are still very vulnerable and in staying away from people we can slow the spread of the virus. This means that we can encourage some people to come outside who perhaps previously didn’t want to, because they can be safe in the knowledge that they will be looked after, or at least as best as possible. We have seen many in the medical community like Lisa Cannon MD who have been urging people to take extra care when they are out and about, and to ensure that social distancing is something that we all make sure to follow.

Basic Science

There are still some discussions around whether or not masks do a good enough job in protecting us or in slowing the virus. One thing which cannot be disputed however is the dangers with regards to social distancing. We know that  this is a virus which is passed from person to person through droplets in the air from our breath. This air droplets don’t hang around forever, and eventually they disperse. If you breathe then these will disperse at around half a meter, a cough or a sneeze will catapult them through the air to around 2 meters, this is why we stay a safe distance away from one another.

Winter Is Coming

For many in the west, winter is just around the corner and that means that many more people will have an increased risk of infection. We already seen the influenza death figures rise throughout the winter and with a virus to contend with too, this could make it a very challenging winter indeed. For this reason we all have to do as much as we can to ensure that the vulnerable in our society are looked after, but beyond that we have to ensure that we are all at our best too. Getting the virus isn’t just about the possibility of death, it is also about the fact that it can cause a lot of damage to people, who are not considered to be in a vulnerable category.

For the sake of just moving away from people when we are at, there is no reason why we shouldn’t all be practicing social distancing to prevent the further rapid spread of this virus.