Day 99 of self-isolation - one meter distance

One meter distance.

It won't work.

When you make the rule two meters, people really are separated. But if you are one meter away from me, I can reach out and touch you.

People will bump into each other, breathe each others droplets. Cough. Sneeze. Speak, shout, sing.

Yes, I do understand the need to get the economy going again, and I do recognise that the death rate has come down from the 1000 per day at peak, to under 100. I do understand that people have to go to work. And that this means, for many, public transport, shopping, and so on.

My feeling is that masking in public should be compulsory, the same way it is on public transport. Obvious exceptions would be people with breathing difficulties, people eating or drinking. In pubs, people should mask except when actually taking a sip of drink.

Should it be legislated? I would hope that this would not be necessary. Just as it is no longer acceptable to spit (indoors or outdoors), no longer acceptable to smoke unless invited to do so, it is no longer socially acceptable to drink-and-drive. Someone who drink-drives is no longer seen as "a bit of a lad", he's seen as a plonker. Likewise, we need to move to a culture where going unmasked in public is a sign that you're a bit of a plonker.

From July 4th, the most vulnerable (that is, people shielding) will be allowed to meet in groups of six. I'm not one of those who were told to shield, but myself and ladysolly were still taking the most prudent position, because right from the start, my objective has been these three priorities:

1) Avoid being one of the infected at the time when the health service is swamped

2) Avoid being one of the infected as the health service started to recover

3) Avoid being infected until the vaccine is available.

The vaccine will likely be available some time in September, and it's been announced that people over 50 will be in the first wave of vaccinations.

So, again priorities. I can't do anything about the behaviour of the rest of the country, that's for the government. But I can choose my own behaviour. So we will be avoiding crowds. We won't use public transport, ladysolly isn't going to bridge games (except online) and I don't know when we'll be visiting daughter.1, daughter.2, grandsons.1-4 and all the others.

On the other hand, the Visitation we had last week, went very well. We were out in the garden (outside is a lot more hostile to the virus), and mostly stayed apart.  So I hope we'll e able to do more Visitations this summer.