Social Distancing Ideas to Fight COVID-19
9 Ideas for Social Distancing
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COVID-19 is rapidly spreading as a global pandemic.
This virus is frighteningly unique because of the lack of natural immunity built up against the disease as well as a viable treatment to fight the coronavirus. Therefore, it is essential we follow the very best practices for fighting and ultimately controlling the pandemic.
Our first line of defense is by preventing the passage of this deadly disease by using smart, effective personal hygiene: washing our hands properly and thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, not touching our faces, avoiding handshaking, keeping door handles and surfaces extra clean, and increasing air ventilation by opening doors and windows.
Our next line of defense is social distancing, which simply means staying away from people, not going to work, school, or public outings, essentially quarantining ourselves in our own homes. Professionals, students, and teachers who can continue their work online, should do so. Working and schooling from home intelligently fights the plight.
Public health officials issued a stay-at-home order due to the rapid increase of known cases. Self-quarantining at home slows the spread of the virus, flattening the upward curve in new cases of the disease. With fewer and fewer new cases, hospitals will be more equipped to treat current COVID-19 patients.
Self-isolation is not only socially ethical but collectively moral.
A multitude of healthy people not showing symptoms of COVID-19 may be unknowing carriers of the scourge. With so very little COVID-19 testing available, we do not know whether we are carriers of the deadly disease or not.
According to the latest research on COVID-19, we should adhere to smart social- distancing practices for two weeks or more. New information is published daily as virologists learn more about this new pandemic plague. When we will return to our new normalcy is currently unknown.
Social-distancing helps us stay well and ensure public health. Our new norm also offers new choices and greater challenges for all of us, as we now stay home alone or together with our loved ones. We have all found ways to be positive and productive during this different time. Here are nine of mine:
1. We Cook for More Wellness and Less Waste.
Normally, we have less time available to make balanced, healthful meals, snacks, and drinks. Now, we have plenty of time to get creative in the kitchen, using the limited amount and types of food we have on hand. Cooking has become more challenging and even more fun. If you do not cook, support local restaurants offering delivery services. These small restaurants can only survive in this difficult time with your patronage through their essential food delivery services since public dining violates social-distancing principles and public health edicts.
2. We Open Homes for More Fresh Air.
Opening windows and doors brings fresh air into our homes. Clean fresh air brings new life to a new day. Proper ventilation reduces the spread of viruses. Let us open our windows and doors and let the clean breeze blow new life into our homes.
3. We Work at Home If We Can.
Some of us still can work from home. If so, create dedicated work space and time to help productivity. However, others work daily as usual: farmers, truck drivers, market and drug store workers to give us our essentials every single day. We give thanks to them along with our nurses, doctors and all those working to provide quality healthcare. Let us also never forget our sanitation workers, police, and fire first responders. Heroes and heroines abound now. Let us all work hard and smart to support them in this new and difficult time.
4. We Organize to Minimize.
Now is the perfect time to organize and minimize our lives. Our garages, pantries, refrigerators, cabinets, drawers, and closets are probably cluttered. Maintaining a clean organized home brings personal peace and public health. At Low-Waste Wellness, our motto is living with less gives us infinitely more. Commit to the very least of what we really need and let the rest go.
5. We Read Now More Than Ever.
Read what we need to read. We are so different with so many different interests we have and the many questions we may ask. Now is the time to feed our need to read, exploring our interests and answering our questions. Let us read all the books on our shelves patiently waiting for us. I am currently reading Make Your Place: Affordable Sustainable Nesting Skills by Raleigh Briggs and listening to Estrogenerations: How Estrogenics Are Making You Fat, Sick, and Infertility by Anthony Jay. Both are highly recommended. If you do not usually read, now is the best time to start. So much is available through our internet. Explore your interests and answer your questions.
6. We Please Our Plants and Trees More.
Now is a time to tend to our yards and gardens. Do what needs to be done. Cut, whack, pull, dig, or hoe. Water if necessary but never overwater. Pot and repot houseplants. Let us spring into action in this time of non-action.
7. We Watch More Movies and Videos.
Now, we have more time to watch movies and videos, entertaining us and informing us. Feed what we like and what we want, helping us to know more and grow more.
8. We Do More Puzzles and Play More Games.
Digital devices have greatly enhanced doing puzzles and playing games, but nothing compares to playing a physical card or board game or solving a jigsaw puzzle. Let us find time to play and have fun alone and together.
9. We Enjoy Resting, Relaxing, and Doing Nothing.
The eight suggestions above are great, but we should use this down time also to enjoy a good night’s rest, more naps, and frequent times of contemplation and meditation. A lack of productivity may make us feel guilty, but our emotional and mental capacity must be preserved to fight this plight.
Stay tight, keep it light, and win the fight.
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