Ordinarily, the words ‘family’ and ‘distance’ should not go side by side. A family is a unit of several persons or even things with a lot in common while distance means far from each other.
However, in the effort to prevent coronavirus spread in Nigeria and all over the world, we have been enjoined to maintain social distance from others. In maintaining social distance and preventing mixing or crowding, communities, states and countries have been locked down. The lockdown keeps workers and students at home. Families made up of parents, children and sometimes, friends, helps and others are expected to live in the same space for a determined period.
In Lagos, residents are in the second week of lockdown. However, only one part of social distancing seems to have been considered in this lockdown. Families are not mixing with other families on the road, in the work place, schools, churches, mosques or other such places. Within the families, the members are mixing. They share beds, dining tables, living rooms, toilets, laundry rooms and equipment.
This is the tough part in maintaining social distance within the family.
Medical history shows that a family living in the same apartment is a hotspot for the transmission of infectious diseases and it is also true in this current pandemic, because if a person you live with contracts COVID-19, you are more likely to get it from them than from anyone else outside your home.
There is evidence that husbands can infect wives with the coronavirus. Same goes for the children in the house. But in the lockdown, the whole family is occupying the same space.
The question is – how does one maintain social distance within the family in this lockdown?
The family eats together.
They breath the same air.
They use same plates, dishes and cutlery, even if washed after use.
They share bathrooms.
Some share soaps.
They wash clothes in the same washing machine.
They spread clothes on the same lines.
They speak close to each other.
They cough and sneeze inside the apartment – the thing about coughing or sneezing inside your elbow hardly works.
It is tough getting children and infants to get used to the CDC and WHO prevention rules.
The matter is even worse with spouses. What distance can be considered social among spouses without putting asunder what God has joined together? In a spousal relationship where there is already a strain, one side is likely to use social distancing as an excuse to completely cut off the relationship or whatever was left of it.
The home is both a haven and a hotspot of transmission during a pandemic or even an epidemic.
The challenge will be to distance ourselves physically but not emotionally. It is not easy, I tell you; because emotional relationship without physical contact will seem unserious or incomplete.
Therefore, the lockdown is the time to find out how strong your relationship with your spouse is, because you will be in each other’s face now that you are trapped in a small space together the whole time. It is much like the case of a married couple who works in the same office or are both partners in the same business.
We can learn from such couples.
But not during this lockdown. When we are through with this pandemic, say a big ‘Hi’ to your friends who work in the same space with their spouses and learn from them for the future – a future without a pandemic.
IMAGE CREDIT: Stcloud.org, Smithsonian magazine, cdc.gov
Thanks for sharing.Quite interesting to read.But I was expecting to see your solution to social distancing among families.
Family social distancing is next to impossible. Unfortunately, at least a member of the family may have to go out occasionally to buy some necessities for the home. Such a person is advised to remove clothing and shoes immediately on arrival and go in to shower plus use warm salted water to gargle before mixing with the rest of the family.
It’s difficult to practice social distancing within the family. It’s not realistic. A member of the family does go out to purchase some necessaries for the family use, and the risk of contracting the virus is there. In all, only the grace of God will save us. So let us keep pray.
Allan, in our African setting, social distancing is practically impossible. See the comments by Dr. Akindele above. Any family member who goes out must discard the dress for laundering, keep footwear outside the house etc. As for spousal distancing, this is not social anymore but physical distancing. Can you?
Ogie, your post on social distancing is interesting but my take is that it is not really possible within the family setting.