Will social distancing stay?

[OchAyeThaNoo]

I've been thinking, the hand washing, the not travelling where unnecessary, the working from home away from offices and mostly, the physical act of 2 metres apart social distancing might make us act differently in the future. It makes perfect sense to keep a physical distance from people. 20 second hand washing when arriving home, getting to places and in between should be the norm anyway, as should sneezing into elbows or dumping used tissues immediately and washing hands straight after.
I wonder if we will make this new overly cautious behaviour the norm after this pandemic is over. Perhaps we'll reduce the number of illnesses passed around. Maybe the common cold will become a vague memory for most of us.

Will you be keeping up with the excessive hand washing and continue things like disinfecting/washing your letterboxes for the posties? Are handshakes a thing of the past? Maybe we'll be a physically contactless society like in Demolition Man (as long as there's no requirement of the three seashells and fines for swearing!)

I behaved a bit like that anyway although would usually give family and friends a high. But yes, many of us will remain more cautious I think.
Hard to imagine it being over, there's such a long way to go.

Hug, not a high...

Will you be keeping up with the excessive hand washing and continue things like disinfecting/washing your letterboxes for the posties?

No. I'm not disinfecting my letterbox now, do people really do this? The postman is the only one that touches it anyway.

continue things like disinfecting/washing your letterboxes for the posties?

I think very, very few people are going to such extreme measures like this, OP.

I hope the majority of it doesn’t stay. Of course we need to be sensible and responsible with hand washing and basic hygiene, but we need to live our lives.

We can’t forever be in fear of another virus and therefore be too scared to get close to other people, and having OCD cleaning tendencies is not healthy.

It can actually be dangerous to live in a “too clean” environment because your immune system doesn’t have a chance to grow. Children who grow up in houses that are constantly disinfected and cleaned to an extreme measure have poor immune systems and frequently become ill.

I wash my door and door handle and my garden gate every day. I'm not scared of CV and I'm not a germaphobe or even a neat and tidy person (much to my husband's dismay) but IF someone came to my door and coughed or had the virus on their hands then I figure it would be a good place to break that chain? Its been widely shared over social media and cleaning of door handles and other touched hard surfaces has been repeatedly requested by health officials. I'm home anyway so I'm happy to o my bit, however insignificant and useless it may prove to be.

I think some of it might, though I am one who likes a fair bit of personal space around me anyway.

I wonder whether working from home might become more common after this, as some employers realise that it could cut sick leave somewhat and save on expensive office space. For example, people with a heavy cold are often better not to go into an office and spread it around, but could usually manage to work from home.

I look forward to having plenty of freedoms back though when the time is right, such as a quiet browse of the shops and a drink in a café. I do like to do those things, although I am definitely a lone shopper anyway.

I've never washed my front door or garden gate!

Can't imagine social distancing in the future. My house is tiny so people are close together when they visit. Restaurants and cafes have people close together.

I kind of hope so- hate bloody hugs from most people and washing hands has clearly been alien to many before all of this- look at the hand soap sales!!! Why weren’t people washing their hands before now!?!?

It can actually be dangerous to live in a “too clean” environment because your immune system doesn’t have a chance to grow. Children who grow up in houses that are constantly disinfected and cleaned to an extreme measure have poor immune systems and frequently become ill.

I definitely subscribe to this belief. I'll always wipe down my kitchen well when preparing food because I spent my career working in catering so it's second nature but I'm not a clean freak by any means. My house is a tip sadly.. As such though, my kids almost never get sick and if they do, it's extremely brief. There certainly is no need to be too clean.
That said, I am enjoying certain aspects of the social distancing. No being stuck in a queue choking, hiding my nose in my coat behind the woman who stinks like a 10 year old ashtray or being stood next the bloke who's never heard of Lynx body spray... or a shower for that matter!

washing hands has clearly been alien to many before all of this- look at the hand soap sales!!! Why weren’t people washing their hands before now!?!?

Isadora2007 🙄 The hand soap sales have gone up because people are panic buying and hoarding soap, not because they weren’t previously washing their hands.

Same with toilet paper, or do you think people weren’t wiping their ass before now too?

To be fair it's not all down to panic buying as people really are washing hands far more often. Even me and I always thought my hand-washing frequency was just fine. Now I was my hands when I get home from the shop. I don't think I did before. I'd do it if they were dirty, after using the bathroom, before cooking and before eating but now it's when I get in too. Same with the kids.

We've used up our hand-washes a lot quicker this month than on previous months. And how many people did we see in public looks walking straight out? Now we have people coming in, washing their hands, going to the loo and washing their hands again afterwards. I've even seen people come into Tesco toilets just to wash their hands and not use the toilets at all.

Now I was my hands when I get home from the shop. I don't think I did before.

Under normal circumstances, that’s not necessary. It was never necessary before the virus and it won’t be necessary after the virus. That’s why you never did before: because it wasn’t needed.

Yes, wash your hands when you’ve been to the toilet, they’ve got dirty, you’re taking out the bins etc. but ordinarily you don’t need to wash then after going outside, going to the shop and so on.

I don't like people I don't know getting too close and hate crowds so I hope some of it does. I've always been hygienic but definitely washing hands more, wiping down handles and banisters, doors and inside my car. I have always subscribed you can be 'too clean' and children don't pick up immunity if you're too overzealous BUT, that's ok when there isn't a highly infectious, deadly disease going round. This is the time cleanliness is needed. It doesn't do us any harm to think about hygiene a bit more and encourage good habits in the dcs. I'm not sure it'll change things forever for some people as some people are not taking it seriously even though. They just see it as an inconvenience to be got round. Those sorts will probably go back to the way they were.