The idea is simple: If low-risk people don’t socially distance, then the entire containment process is not effective. Generally, there are fewer high-risk individuals — the sick and the elderly — and they don’t tend to move around as much as lower-risk individuals. Therefore, it’s more likely that a low-risk individual will expose a high-risk individual to the virus.
Wanting to socialize right now is understandable. People are stressed. It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend. People (rightly) want to support local businesses. Younger people feel less vulnerable. But the consequences are dire. Just look at Italy — a country thought to be a week to 10 days ahead of the United States in its outbreak — where the health care system is collapsing under the strain of new cases. In The Boston Globe on Friday, the Italian journalist Mattia Ferraresi offered a chilling warning to U.S. readers not to follow Italy’s lead. “Many of us were too selfish to change our behavior,” he wrote. “Now we’re in lockdown and people are needlessly dying.”
If the same holds true in the United States, it could mean that this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day bar crawls are effectively petri dishes incubating the virus. Once it spreads without containment, untold numbers could be infected, with many not showing symptoms for days, if at all. And as these low-risk individuals move around — visiting families, friends and going to work — they threaten to expose others to a potentially life-threatening illness.
Social distancing is a responsibility. It’s not about panicking and quarantining to protect one’s self, but to protect others around you. You can still FaceTime or video chat with friends and family. Do a joint movie night. A virtual book club. Eat, drink and try to unwind.
But make the responsible choice and do not pack the bars and clubs this weekend. It’s proven effective in places like China, Singapore and South Korea, and it has saved lives. You can help, too.
But don’t take my word for it. Listen to Mr. Ferraresi, who is living a week into a hellish future in Italy.
“We thought a few local lockdowns, canceling public gatherings, and warmly encouraging working from home would be enough stop the spread of the virus,” he wrote. “We now know that wasn’t nearly enough.”
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