ReachExtra
Covid19 | Physical Distancing is not Social Distancing
In a recent Covid19 emergency bulletin on GBC TV, the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo warned against “social media vigilantes”.
He meant those who might think it proper to post pictures of citizens who they think might be flouting controls aimed at arresting the deadly progress of the epidemic.
After all, as the Chief Minister said, the people seen out and about might be carrying out not just legitimate but essential activities; and who can forget the awful footage of a traffic warden sticking a fine on the car of a medical professional in an otherwise empty street outside St. Bernard’s Hospital.
Its not acceptable to clamp the vehicle of key GHA personnel. I have given immediate instructions to remove all clamps for GHA workers, whatever the place of registration of the vehicle in question. We will introduce a parking scheme for all GHA workers for this period. pic.twitter.com/x9H7np5rHJ
— Fabian Picardo (@FabianPicardo) March 19, 2020
On the other hand it is understandable that many of those who take to social media may not be motivated by the virtue signalling that infests the internet but by a real sense of fear and desperation – after all the news from other countries is almost uniformly and unrelentingly negative.
Moreover, the World Health Organisation (30.03.2020) reports that strong “social distancing” measures to slow and suppress the spread of COVID-19 across Europe are estimated to have already averted thousands of deaths.
The findings come from a new analysis from Imperial College London, on the potential impact of interventions in 11 European countries to counter the coronavirus pandemic – including school closures and national lockdowns.
According to the research, up to 120,000 deaths may have already been averted in 11 countries, including Spain, the UK and Italy. The fact that this data comes at a time when the pandemic is still thought to be at an early stage makes the requirement to abide strictly by the rules even more essential.
Yet, there is a need to strike a balance in case over-strict implementation of measures should cause people to reject them en masse as the sense of tedium and desperation increases. Certainly, there is no room for social media vigilantes.
Both in Gibraltar and neighbouring Spain there has been a major deployment of law enforcement and military assets to police the restrictions. Mr. Picardo said that folk who were thinking of organising large private gatherings were “idiots” and that must be right.
His words seem to have had the desired effect in Gibraltar but such wisdom does not appear to have travelled to the UK where planes are still landing from Coronavirus hotspots; allowing thousands to enter the country untested, and the underground system in London and other cities is still crammed with travellers under the gaze of a British government whose experts have had execute a number of sharp U-turns in recent weeks.
It would be churlish to lecture the authorities on anything during this “unprecedented” crisis, but suggestions can and should be made.
As the prospect of long term and even heightened lockdown increases, provision has to be made to cater for the physical and mental health of the public. It is plainly wrong for people in Gibraltar who are allowed to take limited physical exercise in the open according to government guidelines to be lambasted merely for doing so.
Distancing surely does not require people to stay indoors at all times. Indeed lack of exercise will render people even more susceptible to illness. It is essential though that those who are out doing exercise should keep well away from others.
Thus, it is surely not right, for example that someone jogging should be panting away without a mask in close proximity to other citizens.
Clubhouse Gibraltar which caters for people with mental illness has just come out with the excellent idea of modifying the language currently being used in the public domain and says that rather than implement ‘social distancing’ Clubhouses are choosing to implement a system of ‘physical distancing’ and are finding creative ways to remain ‘socially connected’ with each other.
Similarly, the economy requires that certain people who cannot work from home continue to be productive so long as exacting social distancing measures are adhered to.
We face a war on many fronts. The immediate battle is to push down the curve of infection and avoid as many deaths as possible.
Alas, that is not all because we must all work to ensure that the long battle ahead can be withstood. Perhaps the Gibraltar Government will be assisted by Clubhouse’s change of nomenclature.
What is clear is that even though the balance is extremely difficult to strike, every effort should be made to achieve a sense of proportion because draconian measures could backfire in the medium to long term.
