Ever since the UK started social (or, more accurately, physical) distancing in the face of the coronavirus crisis, we have been observing a 2-metre rule. But where does this guidance come from and is it the ‘right’ measure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, most older people – who are the most vulnerable – are not so familiar with metric measurements and therefore we are often told that 2 metres equates to 6 feet but in fact it is just over 6.5 feet. I suppose the government felt that a whole number was presentationally clear and that 2 was better than 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent days, however, the authorities have acknowledged that 2 metres is a “precautionary approach” and accepted that 2 metres is out of line with the advice in most other countries and with recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other countries have opened for 1.5 metres. These nations include Australia, Germany and The Netherlands. Some countries have judged that 1 metre is sufficient. These nations include China, Singapore and France. The WHO advice is 1 metre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some reason, Korea has gone for an approach that is equivalent to 1.4 metres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The varied advice on physical distancing may or may not have made a difference during the lockdown phase with minimal outdoor activities allowed. I suspect that, in clinical terms, the difference between 1 metre and 2 metres was tiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the varied advice matters a good deal now that we are planning a return to work and the opening up of businesses including shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs. The difference between 2 metres and 1.5 and especially the difference between 2 metres and 1 metre would make a massive difference to the economic viability of many financially vulnerable businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expect the advice in the UK to be reviewed and revised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ever since the UK started social (or, more accurately, physical) distancing in the face of the coronavirus crisis, we have been observing a 2-metre rule. But where does this guidance come from and is it the ‘right’ measure? In fact, most older people – who are the most vulnerable – are not so familiar with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british-current-affairs","category-science-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25866"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25872,"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25866\/revisions\/25872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}