10 signatures reached
To: Everyone
It's Physical Distancing with Social Connection
I AM REQUESTING A BROAD CHANGE IN TERMINOLOGY:
Let’s stop using the term “social distancing” in relation to the Coronavirus. Instead, let’s call our actions by their true name: Physical Distancing.
This term, suggested by the World Health Organization, more aptly describes how we slow the spread of COVID-19 and "flatten the curve".
It is important to remember that there are the many beautiful examples of Social CLOSENESS happening even as people “shelter in place” and don’t see each other face-to-face much. There are virtual meetings, classes, meals, and birthday parties; volunteers serve at mobile food banks wearing masks and gloves; neighbors are shopping for each other; newly minted seamstresses are home making surgical masks to fill the gap in medical supplies; people are calling family and writing to each other.
The pandemic is a shared experience more global than the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 (but it is much longer and not as much fun). Even if we are alone, there is a sense that we are together in this. We are trying to protect each other from the virus by limiting in-person appearances while preserving our social connections in other ways. As a society, we are quickly revising how much personal space we keep between us.
A worldwide goal has become to slow the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, a Herculean attempt is being made to stay connected to each other. Social distance is occurring, too. Pockets of isolation have been created in our towns and cities as an unhappy accident of the “shelter in place” orders. This has never been the true goal. The true aim is to physically distance our bodies from each other so that the virus doesn’t pass between us and get people (especially vulnerable groups) sick. Whenever possible, we should be attempting to bridge the social distance. Let’s start by rejecting the (constant) use of the term “social distancing” and helping those around us in any way that is possible (within safety guidelines, of course).
Let’s stop using the term “social distancing” in relation to the Coronavirus. Instead, let’s call our actions by their true name: Physical Distancing.
This term, suggested by the World Health Organization, more aptly describes how we slow the spread of COVID-19 and "flatten the curve".
It is important to remember that there are the many beautiful examples of Social CLOSENESS happening even as people “shelter in place” and don’t see each other face-to-face much. There are virtual meetings, classes, meals, and birthday parties; volunteers serve at mobile food banks wearing masks and gloves; neighbors are shopping for each other; newly minted seamstresses are home making surgical masks to fill the gap in medical supplies; people are calling family and writing to each other.
The pandemic is a shared experience more global than the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 (but it is much longer and not as much fun). Even if we are alone, there is a sense that we are together in this. We are trying to protect each other from the virus by limiting in-person appearances while preserving our social connections in other ways. As a society, we are quickly revising how much personal space we keep between us.
A worldwide goal has become to slow the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, a Herculean attempt is being made to stay connected to each other. Social distance is occurring, too. Pockets of isolation have been created in our towns and cities as an unhappy accident of the “shelter in place” orders. This has never been the true goal. The true aim is to physically distance our bodies from each other so that the virus doesn’t pass between us and get people (especially vulnerable groups) sick. Whenever possible, we should be attempting to bridge the social distance. Let’s start by rejecting the (constant) use of the term “social distancing” and helping those around us in any way that is possible (within safety guidelines, of course).
Why is this important?
Reaching out to neighbors and friends, even if it is virtually, can help our society thrive even in the face of a pandemic. If we choose, instead, to curl in on ourselves and ignore the plight of those around us, we lose part of our humanity. It is important to preserve our compassion. This period in history is difficult, but we can ease some of the pain if we remember that we are not alone and that we have the power to help ourselves and others.