effective was/is social distancing?
1 Year on, and the TRUTH takes a detailed look back.
The evidence will surprise, astound, and possibly even shock you!
Without a doubt, the best way to view social distancing is that of a chess board.
A King is restricted to any of the other vacant adjacent squares, provided they are not threatened by opposing pieces, and so there is no equal distancing from their original square.
The Queen, on the other hand, is restricted solely by the edges of the board (8 X 8), its own pieces and the opposing King, which cannot be taken.
On any empty board and from one of the four centre squares, it can move horizontally and vertically, the same as signs on buses and floor markings in shops and diagonally and, at a social distance. Admittedly, a diagonal move is equal to the width of a square + 50%, however, when it comes to a matter of people social distancing, it’s all the more significant.
When it came/comes to social distancing on buses, however, it is/was woefully inadequate, as noted by the Queen’s move.
First and foremost, the seats directly behind or a diagonal move from the driver were marked as unusable. That meant, sitting one and a half seats away from the driver’s back was a risk.
On single decker buses where the only door is at the front, the seating capacity is either 8 or 11, while the available seats are 9 pairs plus the long back seat.
In the case of the 11 capacity, that means, despite one person per pair of seats plus a passenger at either end of the back seat, although there was/is social distancing horizontally and, moreover, diagonally, there was/is ZERO social distancing vertically and like that of the social distancing requirement towards the bus driver.
Although single decker buses that have an exit door in the middle have a capacity of 14 (12 pairs plus the long back seat), the problem is exactly the same as the 11 capacity bus, while it is also worth mentioning that, on the lower deck of double decker buses, the seats directly facing the long back seat have seating restriction signs on them the same as those at the front.
Sport and social distancing: Following ‘project restart’ as the resumption of Premier League matches were called, a limited amount of fans were allowed into football grounds, seen here in Arsenal’s Europa League match against Rapid Vienna, from the METRO.
Some while later and to-date, despite those who attended the 2020 season’s 2nd FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on April 18th 2021, the government called a halt to fans in stadiums, while, from the lack of social distancing in the above photo, it is clear and obvious to see why!
A close group of 8 bottom right!
From my own viewpoint and experience, as soon as the government recommended face covering, I did what everyone else, to that of being exempt from wearing a face covering mask, should have, while not everyone did, and that was to order three re-usable black face masks from amazon and at a cost of less than £8.00. I decided against disposable ones for the clear and obvious reason that the pandemic was far from short term, while, even now, 13 months later, it is mandatory to wear face coverings on public transport and in shops, and with no lifting thereof in sight.
Many’s the time, in queues, I’ve had to call a person out for not respecting my ‘Queen’s’ space. On one occasion, the customer retorted (words to the effect) ‘I thought it was only one metre if you wear a face covering.’
On an occasion in my local Sainsbury’s, I noticed an un-masked member of Sainsbury’s stood right on top of me (a King’s move). When I mentioned he was too close, he told me to ‘Mind my own business.’ The business of my being ‘safe’ . Noted by the signs: Hands, face, space!
Having left a shop, exited a bus, or just walking along a street, scores of people, millions throughout the length and breadth of the UK, still felt/feel it’s okay to forgo the important aspect of those signs, by taking off or not wearing a face covering.
To them and those who didn’t I have but one thing to say, and it is this:
Less people will have lost their lives to Covid19! People you either know or are related to.
Conclusion:
On the evidence above, the answer to this article’s title and question is, 'less effective than it should have been', starting with public transport and wearing face coverings IN PUBLIC!
Update: 20th May 2021. Following last night’s News at ten on the BBC, the broadcaster trailed the Government’s latest public information notice on staying safe from covid, adding two white horizontal wavy lines with the words ‘Fresh air’ in between them to their pre-existing notice:
‘Hands, Face, Space’
It goes without saying that, the greatest amount of ‘fresh air’ is outside, outdoors. That said, while out shopping today, I noticed that only 1 in 6 (16.5%) of people respected the Government’s adivice: ‘Hands, Face, Space & Fresh air’ meaning that, outside, you must wear a face covering!
Little wonder then, that according to the Metro, there were 2,696 new covid cases the previous day. All of which meant, a % of those 2,696 people came in contact with and, therefore, possibly spread the virus to others, which is exactly how they, themselves, most likely became infected.
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