Do you remember this?
Technically, you don’t. You can’t. Because this is a photo I took late last year and am just now posting. But if you rook my question to mean, “Do you remember these social-distancing decals?” then I expect you could honestly answer, “Yes.” My favourite was the Timbits one.
Anyway, as I understand it, the six-foot rule for safe social distancing was one of the things that public-health officials made up during the crazy days of COVID-19: empiric was the word Dr. Fauci used to describe a rule that “just sort of appeared”. There was some truth to it, of course: at one extreme, if you never shared breathing space with another human you were unlikely to catch COVID-19. Or the flu. Or a cold. Or any sexually transmitted disease, for that matter. But the idea that six feet was substantially safer than, say, three feet was, as the good Doctor testified, not supported by the evidence.
Was it necessary anyway? Meh. The idea that during an epidemic we need government direction to keep our distance from sick people, or from strangers who might be sick, is not supported by my experience. But whether we needed it or not, we got it. And at the car-rental agency in Tempe, we’re still getting it.
Inertia: no one really knows what it is, at least according to Richard Feynman’s father, but it’s a powerful force. These new-looking decals, almost six years after the fact, are a good reminder to me to be careful about what I set in motion.
Canadians naturally seem to allow space. But I had to shake my head when it was minus 30 and 5 of us were waiting outside the meat store to pick up our turkeys but we could have all fit inside. (The store not the turkey) New habits become ingrained very quickly it seems.
Dorothy – Yes, I think we space ourselves a bit further apart than Americans – and certainly further than South Americans! That’s funny about the line outside for turkeys. Brr.
The Staples store across from where I live still has the marks on the sidewalk outside “please stay 6 feet apart.” They were put there in early Covid days and haven’t worn off.
Tom
Tom – That’s interesting. I haven’t noticed those signs/decals for some time, but I still see parking spots allocated for pick-up (including at Staples). I suspect this might be a more-or-less permanent change to our shopping habits. Why get out of your climate-controlled car when a store employee will bring you your stuff?