Social distancing to 1m - will be used to lift lockdown

[Rosehip10]

There has started to be lots of talk about social distancing in the UK being reduced to 1m rather than 2m.

I think the Gov will do this and hence allow a broad release of lockdown and re-start of the econonmy with schools and transport being best endeavours for 1m social distancing.

Remember the WHO use 1m (www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public)

[alittlecloudfloatinginthesky]

1 metre isn't really social distancing then, it's just normal distancing surely?

I'd thought that reducing the distancing advice would be the last thing they change, once there is a vaccine.

[Porcupineinwaiting]

In what way is 1m distancing?

[YouAndMeAndTheDevilMakesThree]

Lots of talk where? It's not a very logical idea.

[crustycrab]

Unless you usually dangle off each other constantly that's not distancing is it?

[WorraLiberty]

Oh I read the thread title and believed it for a second

How is standing 3 feet away from someone social distancing?

I'd say it's pretty normal unless you're about to snog them.

[TARSCOUT]

I think this is more workable and not at all normal distance. Visiting DM would normally mean one sitting on sofa beside her and other in chair (small house). To achieve 1m will likely mean one visitor at a time. Desks in call centres will need to be spaced out more and in my office will mean we only need to find an extra space for one bank group of desks. Eating out will limit groups etc. Public transport. Whole host of things will be made more able to work. Ald will stop all those workmates hugging when we get back 😀

[TheFluffiestCat]

That sounds much more workable. If numbers are low enough and there's a solid test/track/trace system in place, I'd be all in favour of it.

[pitterpatterrain]

That would be quite far apart on rush hour tubes / trains and we don’t have 1m between chairs at work in the lunch room

Sounds like social distancing to me

[Kingjarvis]

Sounds much better. 2m isn't workable at all

[IcedPurple]

I remember at the start of the crisis, 1 metre was always talked about as the correct distance. I reckon they stretched it to 2 metres to err on the side of caution and because they knew people wouldn't adhere to it exactly. But by saying 2 metres they'd still be at least 1 metre apart.

And 1 metre is not normal distance, as some posters above have said. Think about queues at the supermarket, standing on a bus or even shopping in a busy shop. Nowhere near 1 metre in normal times.

[DobbyTheHouseElk]

Lots of other countries are using 1.5 meters as the rule.

[Rosehip10]

@alittlecloudfloatinginthesky So you are saying the world health organisation is wrong then? The 1m comes from them.

[Lampan]

The WHO says 1m so I assume we have been told 2m to try and ensure a minimum of 1m. If they reduce the guideline to 1m people will end up probably getting closer than 1m. I don’t think that would be a good idea.
I am just speculating but that’s my take on it...

[unicorngymnastics]

I work in education and it has been suggested to us that we will work on 1 metre distance because this will make it easier to get children in the classroom.

[DaisylovesDonald]

1m seems much more sensible and manageable to me. I would be happy for them to change it to that, other countries are also not necessarily using 2m and as a pp said the official WHO recommendation is 1m.

[B1rdbra1n]

does that mean that when they said that we had to be 2 metres apart they were just pretending and we really only need to be one metre apart?😳

[namechangenumber2]

I thought I'd heard that actually 2M is not really far enough?!

[DaisylovesDonald]

@b1rdbra1n
I imagine that they started with 2m to try and ensure a minimum of 1m - 2m is actually quite far and a lot of people will underestimate it. I think we’re actually more familiar with the length of 1m plus the government have probably seen that in fact people have by and large have stuck to 2m or thereabouts and they can be more confident therefore that we would stick to 1m.

[Itisasecret]

• We are following the science, back to school.
  

-- We can only fit 5 children in a class.

• We ordered new science.

[Kitchendoctor]

If it’s only 1 metre it’s not distancing.
They should leave it at 2 as most people don’t seem to estimate this very well and get too close anyway.

[Rosehip10]

@Kitchendoctor Please let me know your scientific and medical qualifications that make your more of an expert than those at the world health organisation?

[MLMsuperfan]

Social distancing is kissing but no tongues.

[user1487194234]

Sounds more workable and will definitely help get people back to work

[B1rdbra1n]

Daisy I do see your point but it also feels like what Itsasecret says, i.e. that 'following the science' means 'we cherry-pick the bits of science that line up with the message that best suits our agenda'
Like when David Nutt was sacked for inconveniently pointing out that drugs weren't as dangerous as the government wanted to say they were

[DaisylovesDonald]

I guess I just see it differently. The WHO guidelines are 1m apart. That’s science too! We elected to start with 2m and as we know more we may (or may not as it’s not even confirmed) choose to go down to 1m in line with their recommendation. I don’t see a problem with that. These things are about reducing not eliminating risk.