Why Social Distancing Matters For India's Nurses, Doctors And Poor People

Today, as coronavirus takes a tighter grip in India, with over 100 people infected from COVID-19, the government is asking people to avoid stepping out and staying indoors to contain the spread of coronavirus.

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Schools, malls, places where too many people are in close proximity are being temporarily shut down. Public events are being cancelled at an unprecedented rate. Offices and workforces are trying to work from home as much as they can.

It's all being done for the purpose of 'social distancing,' but what does it really mean and why is it more necessary than anything else today?

What is social distancing?

In the simplest terms, social distancing means keeping oneself away from other people to prevent spreading of diseases. We know the novel coronavirus spreads from one person to another through a variety of mediums -- sneezing and coughing not just near a person, but also near surfaces that can come in contact with a lot of people, infecting everyone on the way. Social distancing helps in avoiding just that.

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The need for social distancing today

You might think, we have our face masks, we have our hand sanitisers and with adequate care and attention we can be safe, but it doesn¡¯t really work that way. The Coronavirus finds a way to infect many others with just one infected source in a matter of seconds. A recent study has shown us that COVID-19 can survive in the environment for 30 minutes and travels 4.5 metres in the air, And if the rate of infection for Coronavirus isn't slowed down, a large number of Indians can get infected by COVID-19 in a relatively short amount of time -- like it did in China all through January.

Think about the Indian healthcare system

Remember when the disease first broke out in Wuhan, how Chinese authorities were prompt to lock the whole city down, isolating tens of millions from the rest of the country? As China saw an initial spike in the number of Coronavirus cases, it built temporary hospitals in a matter of days. Imagine if something like that could happen in India.

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India might surely be similar in terms of population density to China, but it clearly lacks the number of hospital beds should situations take a turn for the worse. According to Statista, China had over 6 million hospital beds and over 11 million people strong healthcare department in 2019 -- before even Coronavirus outbreak began. Contrast it with India where we had only 1.8 million hospital beds in 2018, according to one estimate (not counting private hospital beds), and not enough healthcare personnel.

The level of response Chinese healthcare practitioners administered to contain the spread of Coronavirus will be difficult if not impossible to match by government hospitals in India.

Social distancing for our doctors

We remember the ordeal healthcare practitioners in China went through during the outbreak -- strapped down in masks and hazmat suits for hours, no time to even sleep or use the restroom. Most had to rely on wearing diapers to avoid wasting time in a restroom.

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They are the true heroes ultimately. And that¡¯s why we must practice social distancing now in India, for all those who can, to avoid a situation where the doctors in our country face something similar, so that they can take care of patients in need other than an overwhelming number of patients infected with Coronavirus.

Social distancing for the poor

Today, some of us are privileged, only work out of our laptops, who can actually stay indoors if we wanted to. We have the luxury of working from home, or paid leaves that don¡¯t allow us to worry about our earning while staying at home. But everyone¡¯s not that lucky, there are people who depend on daily wages to put food on the table, where their work doesn't really allow them to do it from home. For them, staying indoors and saving their lives from the coronavirus isn¡¯t an option.

This is why we must be responsible citizens of the nation and not be enablers of spreading COVID-19, because the few fortunate ones will treat themselves without much worry, thanks to medical insurance. But today, around 75 percent of India's population (According to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) doesn't have any insurance or mediclaim. Their only hope of affordable medical care, should they get infected by Coronavirus, are the smooth functioning of India's government hospitals -- which shouldn't get overwhelmed for their sake.

With the vaccines still far away, precaution is our only cure against the novel coronavirus. Don't forget to wash your hands, and if you can, practice social distancing.