Why Can't I travel and Visit Restaurants? Covid-19 - Contagion, Infection, Quarantine and Social Distancing

Social Distancing In Singapore


Sign 'Maximum Occupancy 5 People' at outdoor bench table in Singapore, at private condo. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Contagion and Infection
Contagious means you catch it by touch. Infectious means you catch it from people nearby who are breathing it over you - airborne.

Contagion has been known for years. I used to think it was weird when I went to a wedding or looked online and saw that Orthdox Jewish men, dancing at a wedding, danced with a handkerchief separating one person's hand from the next person's. Now I can see that it had a practical purpose of separating people by both distance and touch. Two arms' length plus a handkerchief in between was social distancing whilst symbolically linking.


Infection
Similarly, Florence Nightingale separated beds in hospitals so that each person was not touching or breathing over the person alongside.

Quarantine
As for not travelling, that was known too. The village of Eyam in Derbyshire, England, cut itself off from the outside world.

Troops arriving in Africa and travelling south unwittingly unwittingly carried the 1918 Flu south to South Africa. My grandmother's brother, living in South Africa, newly married, was in bed with flu upstairs. He ran downstairs to answer a phone call from his sister. He caollapsed, dropped dead. My mother told me this story many times,emphasixing that you must have a phone by the bed so you don't have to jump up to answer it if you are ill.

So much for the history. What about modern times and the latest research. Just look at the coutnries claiming to have low figures and see what they are doing. compare with countries which admit to high figures and see what they are doing.

Better safe than sorry.

Some people are sorry, too late. 

Australia
The Daily mail online reported mask mandartoty in Melbourne from Wendesday (July 22 2020)

This is my opinion, my summary. I suggest that you go to government sources and scientific reports to get the full picture.

Useful Websites
Hasidic mitzvah tantz - unfortunately no photos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitzvah_tantz
Eyam plague village quarantined - short summary of history plus and visitor's guide
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Eyam#Q1385667
Timelines of mask introduction in Australia
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8543011/Studio-10s-Kerri-Anne-Kennerley-reveals-TERRIFYING-face-mask.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed