One key element of COVID that I think people may be starting to forget – particularly those on the delivering end – is just how much vitriol and rage marked this period. Anyone who suggested that maybe our response to the virus went overboard, or that maybe we were being a bit too dogmatic about the application of masking (now a sacred rite), lockdowns, and social distancing (what good people did), weren’t just a heretic, but a social threat.
Before we revisit that, I think it’s worth starting with how we got to that point. There was so much about the disease itself where The Experts got wrong, either through overconfident bad thinking or outright deception. No sacred cow captures that better than the six-foot rule, a social distancing requirement that required all people, inside or outside, family or otherwise, to stay six feet away from everyone else, to avoid spreading COVID.
The mandate, issued by the CDC’s Dr. Anthony Fauci in early 2020, was quickly codified by local and state governments, with particular gusto in blue cities and states. The media were in lockstep: stay six feet apart – at least. It was nearly comical the extent to which the legacy press, rather than question a new rule from the government, became its enforcers.
The New York Times figured you were “Wondering About Social Distancing?”:
[The experts] emphasized that it’s important for everyone to practice social distancing, not just those considered to be at high risk or who are seriously ill.
“These are not normal times, this is not a drill,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. “We have never been through anything like this before.”
What exactly is social distancing? We asked experts for practical guidance.
Put simply, the idea is to maintain a distance between you and other people — in this case, at least six feet.
To help their readers understand what six feet meant, CNN made graphics, including of a man in a top hat, and two cats, in their article “Social distancing means standing 6 feet apart. Here’s what that actually looks like.”
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