Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Social Distancing

As Is the case for a lot of things has “social distancing” gone too far? Dieting to lose weight is a good thing if one is overweight, but can be a bad thing if taken too far. Likewise, exercise is a good thing, but it also can be taken to extremes , and this extreme is not a good thing.( For example, exercising alone running X-plus miles every day is a self-defeating thing if taken to extremes.)There is little doubt that social distancing helped slow the spread of this corona virus pandemic. Keeping a distance of six feet between yourself and strangers will afford you some protection, as droplets with the virus apparently do not travel more than six feet in the air. To me, crowded places like New York City, where it is very difficult if not impossible, to always be at least six feet from all other people, is likely to have an increased incidence of droplet viral contagion. Likewise, as was the case in that Washington State nursing home, a Mardi Gras party on Ash Wednesday, no less, that brought many older susceptible people into very close proximity was the antithesis of social distancing.

Now here I am purposely avoiding the quandary of the benefit of the social distancing extremes on virus spread versus the economic disaster that this extreme social distancing is causing. I do have my thoughts on this but this is not the place nor is now the time. 

Rather is this concept of forced social distancing encroaching on some of our fundamental liberties, especially when common sense is not taken into consideration?

Close by there is a lake, actually a city reservoir, with a walking path around it. Lately the few times I had walked around on this path everybody was being quite careful about keeping at least six feet between themselves and others. Common sense social distancing! Parents were also being cognizant of how close their children were getting to strangers, as they did not want their kids to catch anything. Again common sense! So after closing all the entry gates to traffic, the next thing was to stretch yellow “keep out, crime scene “ tape across sidewalk entrances. One day this week there was actually two police cars prohibiting entrance to this public land. This almost sounds to me like something I would expect in a totalitarian place. (“KEEP OUT!” . . . This is for your own good. We know best!)

Okay, so the next day instead of trying to cross the yellow police tape at this lake, I decided to do my walking at my local park where four laps is about a mile. I have walked there many times in the recent past, and there is usually two or three additional walkers – all keeping well outside the six feet social distancing parameter. So of course when I approach my local neighborhood park . . . approaching as a tax paying citizen, my local piece of public property, lo-and-behold yellow “keep out, crime scene” tape is stretched across the sidewalk entrances! (“KEEP OUT!” . . . This is for your own good. We know best!) 

Now it seems to me that if there is a minuscule chance that I will catch something while walking out in the open air with no one in 100 feet of me, I should be able to take that miniscule chance. I am a big boy!

BTW: I stepped over the yellow tape, and had a nice leisurely isolated walk!

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