An important way to protect not only you, but also the whole existence of human being.
On Sunday, march 15th 2020, President Jokowi had announced the urgency of social distancing following the increasing of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. As this article was written, there are 134 cases confirmed. Following the president’s calls, Universitas Airlangga is also pushing the social distancing agenda: carry out some midtest online through AULA and some tets that couldn’t be held online, were postponed.
First Thing First: what is social distancing?
In a simple way, social distancing is maintaining your distance from other people—at least six feet away, according to WHO. Social distancing is not the same as self quarantine and isolation. Many people misunderstand it. While you are in self-distancing-mode, you can still go to supermarket, check your money at ATM, and do stuffs, but note these things: minimize contact with people, stay away from the crowd. While self quarantine is the term means staying at home and not leaving to go anywhere, unless you need a medical care. Self quarantine is intended to people who have recently visited to the place where COVID-19 is spreading rapidly or have been exposed to infected people. Isolation is a health care term that means keeping people who are infected away from those who are not infected.
The importance and effectiveness of social distancing
This coronavirus are known to spread rapidly through person-to-person contact, it spreads through respiratory droplets that are produced when the infected people sneezes or coughs. The Corona Disease Center believe that this disease is easily spread throughout communities. A research that published in BioMed Central Public Health in 2010 found that workplace social distancing reduced the number of overall flu cases. The article released by The New York Times also elaborate the urgency of Social distancing. They showed public a method called Flattening the curve. When new cases spike rapidly above the healthcare system capacity line, the healthcare system can be very overwhelmed thus can’t provide the treatment well. We can lowering the spike below the threshold by doing social distancing.
The Dos and Don’ts
Can I leave my house? To get some fresh air? Yes you can. But you still have to push your beware of the viruses agenda: please disinfects your hand, the surfaces you come into contact with, and don’t touch your face before you sanitized your hand.
Can I go grocery shopping? Yes you can. With the same consequences that has mentioned above.
Can I go to eat at the restaurant? Better no. please choose the takeaway option. you may find it hard to manage your distance if you are in a limited space with lots of people. Thus can put yourself and people at the higher risk.
Can I attend an important meeting? You better arrange your face-to-face-meeting into an online meeting. Mrs. Kholis from Faculty of Pharmacy Universitas Airlangga, said “according to head of the sudent committee’s instruction, meetings are held online for a period of time” Monday (16/3) via Line.
Can I go on a date? Yes, you can. But make sure you both are healthy and please stay away from the crowd. Or you guys can practice what Will and Stella did in Five Feet Apart movies: stay five feet away from each other.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/smarter-living/coronavirus-social-distancing.html
https://www.asumsi.co/post/amankah-berkencan-di-tengah-pandemi-virus-corona
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/coronavirus-curve-mitigation-infection.html
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-social-distancing-4799570
