social distancing

The simplest definition I have found for this is ‘to stay 1.5 metres away from other people at all times’.   This is from NSW Health.  At the time of writing the only gatherings actually banned are those over 500, so it is up to the individual to work out how they conduct their lives normally while keeping 1.5 metres away from everyone else. I’m surprised there isn’t an app that sounds an alarm if you infringe the 1.5 metre mark. 

 We now have a hierarchy of separation.  Social distancing is at one end, self-isolation is in the middle and full-blown quarantine is at the top. 

 We also have a derived verb, to socially distance oneself, although this form has been overtaken by to social distance oneself. Possibly neater and easier to say.

And while it was possible to talk about a social distance before, in the general sense of the distance that people like to maintain between themselves when they are socialising, the meaning is now totally skewed to the requirements of COVID-19.