Social Distancing: It’s Not About You

#FlattenTheCurve. And a list of things to do whilst you’re staying at home.

6 min readMar 22, 2020

What about the people that can’t partake in social distancing?

There are a huge number of people in South Africa that actually can’t partake in social distancing due to where they live. There are many South Africans that live in informal settlements. In these informal settlements housing is on top of one another, water is not readily available from a tap, and there are many people living in one home.

This poses a huge problem for these individuals and the coronavirus. A problem where social distancing is not feasible or something that can’t actually be done. For these individuals, as a society we need to try think out of the box and find ways to assist them through this so that the coronavirus doesn’t spread through these communities.

This is where we need to come together as a nation and stand together to fight this.

Edit: Informal Settlements to get sanitation facilities due to Covid-19 threat according to Business Live.

**Please note that this article is for the individuals in South Africa that can participate in social distancing.

Fear and Anxiety

The coronavirus has sparked a new fear and a level of anxiety into the world. Not only are people worried about their and their family’s health, they’re worried about job security too and whether they’ll receive a salary at the end of the month or if they’ll even have a job to return when all of this is over.

There are individuals in worse off situations who aren’t being paid at all because their job relies on hourly wages in an industry that’s being heavily affected by coronavirus and the preventative measures that have been put in place.

All of the above is dependent on how long the coronavirus pandemic will last, and how many people are willing to comply with social distancing to #FlattenTheCurve.

Denial

Then there is a completely different aspect and approach for some people towards the coronavirus — denial. A sense of carrying on and ignoring the hard truth behind what is happening and how severe this all really is. And because it does not personally affect those individuals, they don’t fully comprehend the severity of the whole pandemic.

There is no point in using the word ‘impossible’ to describe something that has clearly happened.

The lack of social distancing hits home for me on several levels:

I’m on the liver transplant list and I’m on immune suppressants.
A friend of mine is pregnant with a baby who is due in 8 weeks time and her journey of falling pregnant hasn’t been a walk in the park.
My grandfather and grandmother are both older than 80 years of age.
I have friends who suffer from severe asthma.
I have a little cousin who is 4 years old who has respiratory problems.
My aunt struggles terribly with respiratory issues.
The number of people in our informal settlements who may have HIV, TB, and insufficient funds to seek medical care that may come into contact with someone who is a carrier of Covid-19.

All of the above fall into the higher risk bracket of catching Covid-19.

Social distancing isn’t just about you

For the people who aren’t taking part in social distancing that need to hear this: this isn’t just about you! You think it won’t affect you, you think you’re not at risk of falling ill. But you can, and you just might if you carry on doing things the way you normally would if it weren’t for the coronavirus.

And if you’re fortunate enough not to fall ill, you may be carrying the disease and infect a whole lot of other people you come into contact with.

Italy’s fatality number is sadly climbing by the day. There are countless videos, Twitter threads, and social media posts that are being posted by Italians reaching out to the world to speak about the coronavirus and the importance of social distancing. These posts aren’t from big social media influencers or celebrities, they’re from every day people who have been affected by the losses of their loved ones due to the coronavirus.

Yes, it may not be that severe in South Africa at the moment. But, if people carry on going out with friends and then going home to see their parents or grandparents, this pandemic is going to get out of hand very quickly here.

We also need to keep things in perspective… South Africa does not have the infrastructure or the facilities to manage a mass outbreak. Many people’s lives will be lost if we are not more careful.

If you’re a carrier of the disease, you may be affecting someone who works in your office space or in your home who lives in one of the above-mentioned informal settlements. You can pass the disease onto that individual who then takes it home with them and that’s how this is going to get worse.

Why is social distancing so important?

Social distancing is a public health safety intervention used to reduce the likelihood of transmitting communicable disease. Social distancing involves minimizing exposure to infected individuals by avoiding large public gathering venues, adhering to spacing requirements in the workplace, and following proper personal hygiene practices.

The Business Insider wrote a great article: Chronically ill and disabled influencers vulnerable to the coronavirus are spreading awareness of why social distancing is so important.

Below is a post that Molly Schreiber posted on her instagram account. It really stood out for me, and is something that we should all consider with regard to social distancing.

Social distancing is so important because it’s for your own health and safety, and everyone else around you.

FOMO

I’m quite sure that a lot of us would love to be back in our daily routines: safely go to work, safely go out and spend time with friends and family, and safely do our grocery shopping without the fear of getting Covid-19 (or the shelves in store being completely empty).

There may be some people who truly are battling with being on their own. That’s understandable when you so often surround yourself with people and keep yourself busy to avoid what’s going on in your mind.

For anyone that is struggling mentally, here’s a useful article to help you with a few coping mechanisms; Coronavirus: Mental Health Coping Strategies.

This is a good opportunity for one to give yourself time to heal from anything you’ve put in a box in your mind and pushed to the side. It’s a time to sit back and truly appreciate the simple things in life.

It is so important to take time for yourself and find clarity. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.

A list of a few things to do during social distancing

Video call friends and family
Study a free short course online
Read a new book
Have a movie marathon
Plan your next getaway
Do a home workout
Try a colouring app on your phone
Change up your decor in your home
Rearrange the furniture in your home
Spring clean your cupboards
Go for a drive with some great music to listen to along the way
Delete old photos on your phone
Start a journal
Try a new recipe
Do some baking

The list goes on. Pinterest is full of ideas, but if you don’t feel like browsing through Pinterest then here is a great article to skim through with more suggestions: 55+ Things To Do When You’re Bored To Pass The Time.

Be aware of those around you. You may not realise that you’re carrying the Covid-19 disease, so please be mindful of your actions and your choices. We need to work together to #FlattenTheCurve and contain this pandemic before it gets any worse.

You cannot control the results, only your actions.