What is social distancing and why do it?

FRANKLIN — Social distancing is avoiding getting together with other people in groups when possible. If someone does need to go out, to the grocery store or pharmacy for example, keep the visit brief and leave a generous zone of personal space around others, six feet if possible. Clean hands when going out and coming back, as well as the shopping cart handle.

This isn't conducive to crowded parades, concerts or sporting events, which is why large events are being cancelled. There simply isn't a way to attend and keep people far enough apart. Even people with no symptoms can have the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and pass it to others.

Novel coronavirus is passed easily through tiny droplets that float three to six feet through the air when a person who has the virus coughs or sneezes. Droplets are breathed in, or land on an object. If an object is touched within a short time after contamination, a person who touches it and then their eyes, nose, or mouth, can get sick. This is how one sick person coughing in a crowded room could make many sick at once, each of whom could go on to make others sick at events, work conferences or social gatherings.

The result is two-fold. First, a lot of people are sick in a short time, competing for the same hospital beds. The number of beds in intensive care units is even smaller. People in New Hampshire are often sent to Massachusetts hospitals if those in state are full, but Massachusetts had already been hit hard and does not have capacity to help. When health care systems are overwhelmed, people can't get the care they need. People can slow down the rate at which they get sick by not going to concerts, parades and dinners out, and help cases of novel coronavirus slow down so hospitals and home care agencies can better care for everyone.

The second result of social distancing is that there are certain groups of people at greater risk of contracting novel coronavirus. For those over 60, or those with compromised immune systems, like a neighbor with cancer, an aunt with MS, a college friend with cystic fibrosis, or even a co-worker with a long-term illness, there is a higher risk, and novel coronavirus could be deadly. This is why social distancing is so important.

For more information, call Franklin VNA & Hospice at 603-934-3454 or visit FranklinVNA.org.