Image by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pixabay

How’s your week going? The world, it seems, is having a singular experience. That is to say, we’ve never seen anything like this before.

Before anyone argues that the so-called Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu, or the events surrounding 9/11, were similar, let me stop you right there. The world is far more interconnected than it was in 1918. Financial markets and world travel were far different, so this health crisis is considerably worse. It also has had a grave impact on employment and daily life. Everything is disrupted and uncertain.

Of course, 9/11 disrupted the United States and other western countries for a time. Still, everyone was still free to go where they liked. There was food (and toilet paper) on the shelves. We had our liberty and weren’t worried that every person we came into contact with could harm us, or that we could unknowingly hurt them.

No, we really are dealing with something singular.

We have to practice social distancing. This is likely to be the phrase or term of the year.  The US government has issued guidelines²https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/03.16.20_coronavirus-guidance_8.5x11_315PM.pdf on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and some of the most important were instructions on how to engage in social distancing.

• Work or school from home
• Avoid social gatherings of 10 or more people
• Use drive-through, delivery, or pick-up service rather than dine out
• Avoid discretionary travel such as shopping and social visits

In addition, older adults should avoid contact with children, even grandchildren, since a large number of children with the disease are asymptomatic, meaning that they show no signs of having the disease. And, children shouldn’t have play dates with their friends. Stay within your own immediate family.

Social distancing also means maintaining a distance of six feet from others as much as possible. The virus can be transmitted between people who are in close proximity, or near, each other. This is why theaters and sporting venues are temporarily closed, along with bars and restaurants.

Another phrase you are likely hearing or reading about is out of an abundance of caution. The fact is that we simply don’t have a lot of information at our disposal right now. Evidence indicates that the virus lives on surfaces for up to 72 hours, but there haven’t been clinically documented studies yet. So, everything that possibly can be disinfected in a potentially contaminated area will be (if possible.) That’s the wisest thing to do, out of an abundance of caution.

In other words, many of the precautions (measures taken in advance to prevent something dangerous, unpleasant, or inconvenient from happening) that you are seeing, or perhaps doing yourselves, are being done out of an abundance of caution. I know of a store that insists that everyone who enters must use hand sanitizer before they take more than three steps inside. Grocery stores are wiping with disinfectant every cart and basket before customers touch them.

This phrase may be confused with a very similar English expression – an overabundance of caution. Overabundance is a synonym for excessive. What we are talking about when it comes to this coronavirus is not an overabundance. You can’t be too careful when talking about something as contagious and lethal as this coronavirus.

You may hear or read the phrase shelter in place. This means that you are ordered to remain where you are, and you cannot leave. A shelter in place order could mean a neighborhood or even a building. In New York City, Mayor Bill DeBlasio has warned that residents could be ordered to shelter in place for a length of time. Such an order, however, can only come from the New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who strongly opposes any shelter in place order. Governor Cuomo believes that would be an overabundance of caution.

It’s important that we understand the new words and phrases that have entered our daily conversation. We have no idea how long we’ll have to live with them.

Stay safe, everyone.

• 1
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
• 2
  https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/03.16.20_coronavirus-guidance_8.5x11_315PM.pdf