Now that just about everything is shutting down, it’s time to start thinking about social distancing at a personal level.
The goal of social distancing is to reduce interactions between people to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. The first step is eliminating large gatherings of people to reduce the potential for widespread contamination. Most employers are also sending employees home, telling them to work from there.
But now that you’re hunkered down at home, what’s the best way to protect yourself from infection as you go about daily life? Gov. Charlie Baker hasn’t urged people to stop going out to restaurants. There’s no ban yet on dinner parties, weddings, or baby showers. No prohibition on going on dates, working out at the gym, riding the subway, or getting a haircut.
What makes sense and what doesn’t?
It depends on who you ask. One option is doing everything remotely. “We can exercise with YouTube videos and take our classes online. We have books (or Kindles) and TVs with all kinds of programming plus grocery delivery and restaurant apps, some of which have even started offering “non-contact” food delivery.”
Others suggest you don’t have to shut yourself off from the outside world completely. “There are still many ways you can practice responsible social distancing even when you have to be out and about in the world,” said the MIT Technology Review, which provides a good checklist.
On riding the subway, visiting the grocery store, working out at the gym, or any of the other aspects of daily life that we tend to take for granted, the advice is typically cautious: Avoid these settings if you can, but if you must go do so at off-peak times and keep your distance (6 to 10 feet) from other riders/patrons.
The Atlantic asked a series of experts their opinions and got a wide variety of answers. Crystal Watson, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said she thinks dating is okay if you are reasonably confident that you’re both well. “I think we’re humans and we need human interaction,” she said.
But Carolyn Cannuscio, the director of research at the Center for Public Health Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, would be very cautious about meeting up with people you don’t know well. “This seems like a great time to get creative with your text messages,” she said.
Watson said small dinner parties are fine as long as nobody has symptoms, but Cannuscio is more cautious. “I would recommend that people minimize social contact, and that means limiting all social engagements,” she said.
Regarding haircuts, Watson sees less chance of exposure with these one-on-one interactions but Cannuscio advises against them.
Similarly, Watson is cautious but open to attending weddings and birthday parties. “I don’t want to tell somebody to cancel their wedding. That would be terrible. But I think you have to look at the situation, maybe ask guests who are feeling ill not to come.” Cannuscio is more hardline. “One of the best ways we can show love to the people we care about is to step back and to stay away,” she said.
BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
Gov. Charlie Baker makes an emergency change to the public meeting law to allow for more remote access. (State House News Service)
The Legislature is disrupted, despite having lots of unfinished business. (Eagle-Tribune)
Secretary of State William Galvin is nervous about the Census count, partly because of immigrant wariness and partly because the coronavirus has sent so many college students to homes out of state. (CommonWealth) On the census front, there are concerns the virus complicates the count. (Gloucester Daily Times)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer declares a state of emergency due to the coronavirus. (Berkshire Eagle)
In Northampton, nonprofits aren’t stepping up to make voluntary payments in lieu of taxes. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
CORONAVIRUS
What’s behind the testing bottleneck and the cumbersome procedures for deciding who gets tested and who doesn’t. Gov. Charlie Baker puts pressure on the feds: “This is a critical issue for us,” he says.(CommonWealth)
US Rep. Seth Moulton says more testing is needed to know how widespread coronavirus is. (Gloucester Daily Times)
USA Today says hospitals won’t have enough beds if coronavirus spikes. Frightening modeling of the epidemic by the CDC suggests a worst-case scenario could mean 200,000 to 1.7 million deaths from coronavirus in the US. (New York Times)
A Northeastern University researcher says ominously that Massachusetts could be on the same trajectory as Italy, where the virus has overwhelmed the capacity of the health care system. (Boston Herald)
College shutdowns are presenting a challenge for some students who don’t have good options for where to go. (Boston Globe)
The Boston Marathon may be postponed until the fall. (Boston Globe) Meanwhile, Plymouth 400 reschedules its opening ceremony to the fall. (The Enterprise)
Social distancing measures: Broadway goes dark (AP). Most local museums close and the federal courts postpone jury trials. (CommonWealth) Arts performances are cancelled, boarding schools are shutting,. (MassLive) In a reversal, the Trump administration now urges employees to telework. (NPR) Disneyland is closing. (New York Times) The Worcester County Jail suspends all visits. (Telegram & Gazette)
Holyoke and Greenfield community colleges are bucking the trend and staying open — for now. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
Susan Ryan-Vollmar has a coronavirus communications to-do list for Gov. Charlie Baker. (Boston Globe)
It’s President Trump who needs the most communications schoolings, however, as the Washington Post reports he went off script and ad-libbed parts of his 10-minute Oval Office address to the nation, tossing in mention of restrictions on cargo from Europe — that aren’t true — which helped send the stock market in a tailspin on Thursday. (Washington Post)
The House is nearing an agreement with the White House on a stimulus package and other provisions to deal with fallout from the crisis. (New York Times)
Students are seeking refunds for cancelled school trips. (Telegram & Gazette)
Customers make a run on local stores to stock up on supplies. (Gloucester Daily Times)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
The US launched airstrikes Thursday in Iraq, targeting the Iranian-backed Shia militia members believed responsible for the rocket attack that killed and wounded American troops. (WGBH)
ELECTIONS
A Western Massachusetts debate between US Senate candidates Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy will proceed without a live audience. (MassLive)
Where do Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders agree — and disagree — on climate change. (WBUR)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
JetBlue Airways CEO Robin Hayes says the drop in bookings now is worse than it was after 9/11. (NPR)
Construction could begin within months on a second, larger phase of the Fenway Center development going up above the Massachusetts Turnpike. (Boston Globe)
EDUCATION
The Springfield Republican editorial board says an Obama-era student debt relief rule, for students scammed by for-profit colleges, should remain in place, despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to rescind it.
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
SouthCoast nursing homes have moved to restrict visitors and are screening and testing workers in response to the novel coronavirus, administrators say. (Standard Times)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
A judge approved a $143 million settlement to be paid by Columbia Gas related to the Merrimack Valley gas explosions. (Eagle-Tribune)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that booking photographs of judges and law enforcement officers who are arrested — along with any police reports connected to the incidents — are public records, even if the officials are never arraigned on charges. (Boston Globe)