Social Distancing - The Difference That Three Feet Makes

Many of us are being subjected to social distancing rules, something that most people had not heard of until the appearance of the most recent novel coronavirus, 2019 edition.  

In my jurisdiction, we are being told that we must maintain a 2 metre or 6 foot distance from everyone, whether they are exhibiting symptoms like coughing or sneezing that may indicate that they are positive for COVID-19 or not.

With that in mind, let's look at how various governments around the world are managing the social distancing aspect of the coronavirus pandemic.  Here is what is on the Canadian government's Health Canada COVID-19 website:

Here is what is on the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website:

In both of these cases, the Canadian and American governments are recommending a 2 metre or 6 foot distance between everyone.

In contrast, here is what we find on the European Centre for Disease Prevention website:

Here is what we find on the Australian Government's Department of Health website:

Lastly, since the World Health Organization is largely responsible for driving the measures that nations have used to slow the spread of COVID-19, here is what the world's leading health body has to say about social distancing:

Here is a WHO video with the same information:

Note, that in this case, the World Health Organization does not recommend social distancing for all people, just for those who have a fever or who are coughing or sneezing and then only a distance of 3 feet.

Let's close with a couple of thoughts.  Where I live, grocery stores have recently implemented very strict social distancing measures including putting tape on the floor to ensure that customers are more than 6 feet apart when waiting to check out, putting arrows on the aisle floors to ensure that people only go one direction and remain more than 6 feet apart and only letting a small number of people into the store to ensure that they remain more than 6 feet apart.  This 6 foot/2 metre rule is the main reason why restaurants, bars and retailers in Canada and many other jurisdictions have been forced to close and why police are now issuing tickets when two people with different addresses are siting in the same vehicle.  I can certainly understand erring on the side of caution but when the World Health Organization is only recommending 3 feet/1 metres for social distancing from people showing potential symptoms of COVID-19, why is it that governments have taken it upon themselves to make a bad situation even worse by making us keep at least 6 feet away from everyone, positive for the virus or not?  On a personal note, after seeing people's reactions when I get what they deem as "too close for comfort" in our "6 foot social distancing world", perhaps governments are just ramping up the fear and discomfort level to justify whatever comes next.  By then, many of us will be begging for freedom.

Who would have ever thought that 3 feet could make such a difference?  If it's scientifically sound consistency that you are looking for in the COVID-19 narrative, you will have to keep on looking.