The coronavirus pandemic has turned the traditional ways of relating to each other entirely on its head.
Because of how contagious it is (according to some data, while the seasonal flu has a slightly higher mortality rate, you are 300 times more likely to get infected by COVID-19 than the flu), people have been forced to shelter at home and hope to ride out the storm that’s happening on the streets outside.
It has been absolute hell on extroverts but several weeks in and even introverts are starting to get a bit of cabin fever. That has led people to jump at even the smallest opportunity to get out of the house to bask under the sun in the park or get some ice cream at a shop that’s open. But if you get hundreds of people thinking that way, then you suddenly have a mass gathering, something the lockdown is supposed to prevent in the first place.
But people don’t care and sadly, not only are social distancing guidelines ignored, most don’t even wear masks in the first place.
There has been a lot of controversy about whether or not face masks are needed but the logic is quite simple. There are people who are infected with the coronavirus but are asymptomatic but they’re already highly contagious. Since not everyone can get tested, it makes sense to assume that one already has the virus.
The virus is known to be able to travel to the air via droplets expelled by an infected person’s cough or sneeze. If an infected person wears a face mask, the chance of infecting others goes down significantly. Again, since we don’t know who is infected since not everyone can get tested, if everyone wears a face mask in public then you significantly lower the chances of a lot of people getting infected with the virus.
Social distancing guidelines preclude physical contact with most people outside one’s household especially the elderly because they are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. But one 10-year-old girl was able to think of a creative way of hugging her grandparents without violating social distancing guidelines.
She simply designed a curtain that allows two people to hug each other safely. The safety curtain will prevent the virus from traveling over but allows physical contact and letting the other person know through a hug just how much you care for them.
It’s an innovative solution to the very basic need of humans to connect with each other but still managing to keep everyone safe!
Replaced!