Don't stand so close to me! England's new rules of social distancing

[marmar]

Don't stand so close to me! England's new rules of social distancing
As lockdown eases, meeting up with friends has become bewildering. Can you share food – or a hug? Scientists and etiquette experts weigh in


(Guardian UK) From this week the lockdown rules in England have relaxed – groups of up to six can meet in an outdoor space, so long as they stay two metres apart. Anyone who can’t work from home has already been told to go back to work – while avoiding public transport. The sceptics among us smell a rat – with the alert level the same and the government’s five tests unmet, track-and-trace not ready and a government desperate to deflect attention from its shortcomings – is this easing really for our benefit, or just a way to kick responsibility back on to the population?

However, rejecting the new guidelines altogether and maintaining your own, personal lockdown may not necessarily be the most socially responsible thing either. Prof Carl Heneghan, the director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford, says: “We can’t stay in lockdown for ever. It’s too easy to make this about one disease. You’ve got to look at the wide spectrum of health issues, the backlog of other [medical] appointments, the impact of more austerity on people’s lives, the closure of schools and the effect on educational attainment, which we know is linked to health outcomes.” We won’t understand the dynamics of transmission – we won’t even understand how effective lockdown has been – unless we start to come out of it. It would be stretching a point to say that it’s your duty to attend a small and socially distanced barbecue, but for the sake of a Co-op burger and some coleslaw, I’m prepared to stretch that point.

On the flip side, as the major restrictions lift, it’s easy to forget the minor ones, but they should not be underestimated. Heneghan points out: “There was a 50% drop in acute respiratory infection in the week before lockdown, so social distancing and handwashing were having a significant impact.”

In other words, we are living in one giant grey area, where judgment, common sense, good faith and, most of all, manners are going to be doing a hell of a lot of heavy lifting. So what advice do the etiquette experts – and the boffins – offer?

.....(snip).....

What if you want to bring your own cutlery or glassware? And do you need to?

Again, if you explain yourself plainly and make it a boundary of yours, a decent friend will accept that even if they think you are extremely cautious. Adam Collins, a doctor of emergency medicine, says: “If everything is washed and clean, and everyone, while they’re there, has their own individual set of plates and cups, that should be fine.” ..........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jun/02/dont-stand-so-close-to-me-the-new-rules-of-social-distancing

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. The answer to "Is it safe to start dating? How far can you go?" is great

especially the bit about where it's legal to have sex ...