55. Impossible social distancing

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As a society, we have had no choice but to control coronavirus through lockdown and social distancing. Our technological capabilities have made huge differences, I will post separately on this, but not enough to avoid having to ask citizens to make great social sacrifices and having to put many of our businesses at risk of failure. The UK lockdown easing measures unveiled recently have taken the former demand to a new extreme. Many measures were announced, but one really caught my eye: you can now see your girlfriend if she lives in a different household, keeping a distance of 2 metres. I really have to wonder how many behavioural psychologists had to be consulted to find one who thought this might be viable. The government is most likely over asking in the expectation of under delivery, but this policy really does not look like it has a chance to be successfully followed, never mind enforced. This masochist exercise in temptation looks more like a psychology study than a public policy

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Location: Hereford, UK

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