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COVID-19, social distancing and consent: a thread.
The coronavirus pandemic isn't a matter of fending for yourself. Your actions impact those you live with, those you meet, people they meet, people who touch the same things as you in public spaces/shops and ultimately the health service who have to care for you whilst sick.
Your actions can effectively remove my ability to consent. Eg if I didn't go to the pub but I get sick from you having gone to the pub, you have taken away my right to consent to what happens to my body. You have knowingly increased your own risk, and mine, without my consent.
A great example is masks. If I wear a mask in a supermarket but you come into my personal space because you feel protected by my mask, I have not consented. My mask protects you, not me. Me wearing a mask isn't permission for you to come closer to me or take more risks.
With social distancing, it's more important than ever that we communicate about our boundaries. Now the 1m+ rule is in effect, it's going to be harder to keep people away from us. People will violate our boundaries, putting us at risk from the virus and heightening our anxiety.
Some of us will be sticking to the 2m rule for some time. That doesn't make us paranoid or silly. We're taking precautions to feel safe. Respect those boundaries, don't violate them as a joke or peer pressure someone out of them.
Same goes for socialising. Now that more venues are open, it's going to be tough for those of us who aren't going out to socialise. But we shouldn't be made to feel pressured into going or guilty for being cautious.
At the very least, we have to communicate with those we live with about the rules that they would like to follow as the lockdown rules ease slightly. My flatmate did not do this last night and now I feel anxious about using the facilities in my own home until I have cleaned.
The virus doesn't care what your intentions are. And unfortunately, no matter how many precautions you take, someone else's actions could impact your health. It's not a matter of "if I want to go out and then I get sick then it's my problem". It's everyone's problem.
But since we can't control everyone's actions and get them to keep being cautious, we can at least ask them to respect our boundaries and rules in our homes, friendship groups and in public spaces. In this situation, respecting consent can be a life or death scenario.
All we can do is clearly establish boundaries and hope that people will respect them. I wish more people cared about other people's health and the sacrifices they've had to make during the lockdown. But at the moment it doesn't seem that way. Stay safe everybody 
