Thursday, March 19, 2020 - 11:43 Leo Olivero

Many of us are grappling with the enormity of the response required to address the COVID-19 virus which the World Health Organization or WHO declared a pandemic last week.

The Age of the Coronavirus - Social Distancing the Order of the Day

We have all been asked to take preventative measures to “flatten the so-called curve,” so to speak. The latter, includes, practising ‘Social Distancing’ so that we can reduce the odds of overburdening the healthcare system. Hugely logical, especially in a small nation like ours.

What is social distancing? It may sound an easy. Particularly now we live in the age of the Coronavirus. But what would have been an easy question last Christmas, is suddenly quite a complex and mentally strenuous one to fully comply with!

‘Officially…social distancing are practices implemented by public health officials to keep contagious diseases from spreading. They basically are measures, aimed at trying to cut down the amount of virus spreading around, and ultimately, protect those most vulnerable, including the elderly and people with weakened immune systems’.

All Doomed to Catching the Coronavirus

“Why keep people apart if we are all going to catch the virus anyway” this is one, of similar questions and criticism I keep reading on social media groups. This again, after the ‘Director of Public Health’ who does not miss an opportunity in any TV appearance, press conference or a statement to repeat that ‘we are all doomed to catching the coronavirus’ according to his calculations yet to be revealed? I sincerely hope, Dr Bhatti is catastrophically wrong, and may have erroneously added an extra digit to one of his scientific coronavirus calculations!

I would imagine, the repeated warnings of mass national contagion can be expected to increase dramatically over time, as some cases, as we know, can develop anywhere up to 14 days later.

It’s much like asking a life-time smoker with imminent terminal lung cancer… to pack up smoking!