So Close, Yet So Far: An Inside Look at Social Distancing

Story and photo by Serenity Bussey.

This pandemic has caused us to do some abnormal things to stay safe, social distancing being one. Having social interaction is very important in human life, so how are we supposed to just distance ourselves from our friends in what seems like a blink of an eye? Now we’re back in school and kids are allowed to interact with each other, but we must stay three feet apart. 

At school many of us are happy to see friends that we couldn’t see when the pandemic first came about. So it’s completely understandable that we’d want to be very close to the people we care about. I’m all for being safe but staying three feet apart most students, and even some staff members do not stay three feet away from each other.

An article from the New York Times states that there was no significant difference in infection rates between schools that required students and staff to stay three feet or six feet apart. I think this does seem realistic because as long as we limit our touch, the spread of cross contamination will be reduced. But people at our school are not always staying three feet apart. Some people are taking it seriously, some aren’t and it’s a real health hazard. If this continues to happen cases will rise and it’ll be back to online school, which I personally didn’t like at all.

For me, being three feet apart at school isn’t really that bad but I do hope to be able to physically interact with my peers more in the near future. What I miss most about human interaction is that social distancing prohibits me from comfort and congratulating my friends with physical touch. Now I have to use words and sometimes words aren’t enough.

For me, staying three feet apart has its highs and lows. Being three feet apart lets me have quite a bit of personal space and I can truly focus on my work without distractions. Being three feet apart slows down, if not stops, cheating that could’ve taken place if we were closer together. Being three feet apart can sometimes make you feel isolated and really miss the ways things used to be. But, I also think that this whole pandemic has taught us how to be more independent.

Serenity Bussey is a 7th grade scholar at Friendship Woodridge International School.