It really pisses me off that in the popular parlance, and government guidance, social distancing has been redefined in entirety as physical distancing - ie keeping the magic distance - when social distancing is more than that and ultimately is an overall reduction in interactions

Physical distancing is important, of course, but is only a part of the story in effective social distancing, which also entails other measures to reduce overall face to face interactions.

Because people don't get this, we get people thinking as long as you're 2 metres (or one, or 1.5 or whatever figure is advised) away, its fine. That's not true. Social distancing entails an overall reduction in opportunities to spread the virus.

For example, working from home wherever possible is a key part of social distancing. You're drastically reducing face to face interactions by holding meetings over zoom instead of in person, making a phone call rather than leaning over someone's desk.

As individuals we should all be thinking about reducing our face to face physical interactions. For example, if you have a weekly Sunday lunch with your parents and in-laws, practice social distancing by making that a monthly thing instead.

(absolutely no idea if Sunday lunches with parents and in laws are even legal because government guidance is confusing af but yeah, don't do it weekly)

Instead of having a party with 10 people to celebrate your birthday, practice social distancing and make it a little dinner with 3 people and do the big thing over zoom.

Is your social schedule for the week coffee with A, drinks with B, C and D, dinner with E and F and a trip to the museum with G? Practice social distancing and only do one of these things - you can catch up with the others later. Social distancing is about reducing interactions.

I'm not going to say "stay home forever" because honestly, while that's safest, it's not feasible for many of us because we crave face to face connection. BUT what you should do is think about how many in person interactions you had pre-lockdown and cut that down by at least half

(I have no idea if what I'm advising in this thread is legal btw but let's face it, neither do you because the government guidance is shit)

Let me give a few examples about how I'm practising the reduction in interactions element of social distancing. Before lockdown, my gf and I would go to the pub about 3 times a week. We're now doing that maybe once a week at most, a reduction of at least 66.7%

(in practice a little more than that because my local is doing app order only so we're also skipping the interactions of ordering at the bar)

I'm furloughed, but before lockdown I was going to the office three times a week, sometimes working in the front desk of the museum, taking public transport to work, etc. And then we shifted to working from home, which cuts out a lot of social interactions.

Before lockdown I wasn't the most social person anyway, but now I'm being quite strict about only one socialising with people who aren't my gf per week. This means I have to weigh up whether in a particular week I'd prefer, e.g. lunch with parents or a picnic with pals.

Now, like I said, the safest thing of all is to stay home, but if we all make a conscious effort to cut our interactions with others by doing *fewer* in person interactions, that can make a big difference, as it's drastically cutting opportunities for the virus to spread.

So, if a normal week for you involves seeing 15 people, practice social distancing and change your behaviour so you're only seeing 5 people. If a normal week involves going to a cafe for sit-in every day, try reducing that down to 3 days a week.

In short, social distancing isn't *just* no hugging and stay physically apart. It's also about reducing how much you see people face to face, and if everyone cuts down these interactions, it can make a huge difference.

Also, an important element of social distancing is seeing service and hospitality workers as people and therefore your interactions with them count, and you have to be conscious of that.