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Monday, April 06, 2020

Social Distancing: How to Persuade Others It Works


Social distancing and self-isolation are effective ways to slow the spread of Covid-19, but from Australia to the US, many are ignoring public health measures. Here’s how to get through to someone who isn’t following the rules.

In some parts of the world, the spread of the new coronavirus has left public spaces eerily silent. In others, life during the pandemic is bustling as much as it ever was – and in some cases even more so. The Welsh countryside saw unseasonal floods of visitors before UK regulations were tightened, while in Australia, people at Bondi Beach were not prepared to let the virus interrupt their relaxation until the police got involved. In Miami in the US, students on their spring break were determined to celebrate regardless. “If I get corona, I get corona,” said one student. “At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”

And it’s not just groups of young people who struggled to get to grips with the reality of life with Covid-19. A poll in the US in mid-March found that less than half of people over the age of 60 were concerned about their risk of death from the virus. For some, like Karen Swallow Prior in Maine, it has led to a generational role reversal as she tries to ensure her elderly parents don’t sneak off into town.

Given that public health bodies such as the World Health Organization, the UK’s NHS, the US’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among others, are making it clear that there are effective ways to slow the spread of Covid-19 by avoiding close contact with other people, why are so many failing to take notice even after strict measures are introduced? And how can you persuade people to start taking care of themselves and the people around them? Read More
While this article offers some good suggestions, I don't think that they would work with a number of the people in my region and community, who are ignoring federal, state, and local recommendations that they stay at home and stay away from people. Earlier this evening I saw a man and a group of children talking with an elderly woman in my neighborhood. They were not maintaining a six foot distance from the woman nor was she trying to avoid them. Right now a group of people are gathered at my next door neighbor's house. They may be friends or relatives or a mixture of the two. At least three cars are parked in the driveway. I heard children's voices in the backyard.

I have overheard telephone conversations between my next door neighbor and a friend or relative. My next door neighbor is angry that the public health measures that the authorities have implemented prevent him from working. His company laid him off. He blames the public health measures for his layoff and not the coronavirus. Like a number of people in my community he dismisses the seriousness of the virus outbreak. Basically he is allowing his anger at being laid off to color his judgment. By hosting these gatherings at his home, he is putting himself and others at risk of contagion but he is not going to listen you if you attempt to tell him that. I have dealt with this kind of person when I was a social worker. The only way to get him to comply with the public health measures is to place him under a court order and even then he will defy that court order if he can. The court may order his arrest and incarceration for defying the court order but by then the harm will already have been done.

The region in which my community is located voted overwhelmingly in support of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Among the segment of the population that forms his base all kinds of conspiracy theories are circulating in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic. This segment of the population takes its cues from the president. Since the president has been taking the virus outbreak more seriously in recent days, they themselves have begun to take it more seriously but not entirely. There are holdouts who cling to the conspiracy theories. The reaction of this population segment to the COVID-19 pandemic shows how politics is influencing thinking about the virus outbreak.

Because they live in a primarily rural area, people may also believe that they are not as much at risk of contagion as people who live in more heavily populated areas. Whatever may be their reason, their reluctance or unwillingness to change their behavior poses a public health threat.

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