Social Distancing
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About
Social Distancing is a practice encouraged to help mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus involving staying indoors and avoiding crowded areas such as bars, restaurants, concerts, sporting events, etc. The practice was widely encouraged on social media and caused people to self-isolate, which in turn led to humorous posts and video representations of people dealing with being stuck indoors.
Origin
On March 5th, 2020, amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, the CDC recommended "social distancing" as a strategy for mitigating the spread of the virus.[1][4] The strategy involves encouraging workers to work from home if possible, banning large gatherings of people, and ultimately attempting to maintain a 6-10 foot physical distance from others wherever possible. A drastic iteration of the strategy was implemented by China in late January of 2020,[2] who put entire cities in quarantine. It proved effective in slowing the rate of new cases of the illness.[3]
Spread
Western news publications began writing articles about social distancing and its effectiveness shortly after the CDC's recommendation, with pieces appearing in USA Today,[5] The New York Times,[6] The Atlantic,[7] and others. Major cities and states soon implemented drastic measures related to enforcing social distancing as well. For example, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut placed restrictive measures on restaurants and banned gatherings of more than 50 people.[8]
Day X of Quarantine
As people began practicing social distancing, internet users began making jokes and humorous videos about their time in isolation, often with the snowclone, "Day X of Quarantine." For example, Twitter user @loveofhuns[9] posted an image of show called Loose Women discussing how an earthworm would wear a bra, gaining over 1,000 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @Michael1979[10] joked that he'd immediately broken quarantine to get a Twix, gaining over 140,000 retweets and 970,000 likes (shown below, right).
Others posted videos illustrating the humorous cabin fever they'd been going through due to the outbreak. For example, Twitter user @MorphineDreamzzz posted a blind pillow fight, gaining over 930 retweets and 4,800 likes (shown below, top). User @keddie44 posted a clip from Jelle's Marble Runs, gaining over 17,000 retweets and 49,000 likes (shown below, bottom).
day 2 of the quarantine.. pic.twitter.com/SZ0FRwQj1s
— MΦrρhιηε✮Drεαɱzz™ (@MorphineDreamzz) March 15, 2020
Day 3 Without Sports: I have fully convinced myself that marble racing is the sport of the future pic.twitter.com/ofttKuSQsF
— Kevin Edwards (@keddie44) March 14, 2020
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] CDC – Implementation of Mitigation Strategies for Communities
with Local COVID-19 Transmission
[2] Quartz – China’s mass coronavirus quarantine was impossible to get right
[3] Deadline – As China’s Coronavirus Cases Slow, Are Re-Openings Of Movie Theaters Far Behind?
[4] CDC – Interim US Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Persons with Potential Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Exposures
[5] USA Today – 7 myths about social distancing, busted
[6] New York Times – Wondering About Social Distancing?
[7] Atlantic – The Dos and Don’ts of ‘Social Distancing’
[8] CNBC – NY, NJ, Connecticut coordinate restrictions on restaurants, limit events to fewer than 50 people
[9] Twitter – loveofhuns
[10] Twitter – Michael1979
Top Comments
Nedhitis
Mar 16, 2020 at 12:35PM EDT
Mistress Fortune
Mar 16, 2020 at 04:27PM EDT