The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken the form of a terrible catastrophe, due to which everything seems to be ruined. Even the powerful countries of the world have succumbed to it. Death and destruction spread everywhere and there is no way to stop it. Doctor’s around the world are working day and night to find ways to get rid of this pandemic. All countries have announced lockdown to avoid community spreading.
We know that the novel coronavirus is a virus spreading from people to people. In such a situation, social distancing is the only solution.
But actually it would not be appropriate to call it social distancing.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has started using the phrase “physical distancing” instead of “social distancing”. It is very important to know the difference between these two terms.
Social distancing makes it sound like that people should stop communication among themselves while it is not correct at all, to avoid this virus, we have to maintain the physical distance. We need to do physical distancing to protect everyone’s physical wellbeing, but mental wellbeing is obviously also important. For this reason, the government has kept the country lockdown, so that people stay in their homes and work from there, along with this, many restrictions have been imposed like… strictly limiting the number of visitors to your home, avoiding large public gatherings or public transport, and staying away from other people when you are in a public space.
World Health Organization (WHO) has changed this terminology that was expected for a long overdue. People are still using a social distancing word for this, which is not completely correct.
If we say the same thing to another aspect, we can say that ‘physical distance’ is measured in metric meters or centimeters and it is a geographical distance between person A and person B while ‘social distance’ is a measure of the distance across social boundaries.
So the appropriate word is physical distancing rather than social distancing.
In this difficult time, where a virus has shaken the entire world, we have to live together mentally, but to reduce its risk, the physical distance has to be maintained.
So please stay home, stay safe.
