GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT
It is a fact that in the time of Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) graded the
situation as a "pandemic". One of the measures set out in order to contain the disease by all
the countries is what they refer to as "social distancing". The term “social distancing” is
misleading. What is being actually proposed relates to physical distancing, and deserves to
be so described. A more accurate expression "physical distancing," best combined as
„maintaining social closeness while keeping at a physical distance‟. In situations like that of
Covid-19, social contact is necessary for the psychological-balance of the people. People
would need affectionate love and attention from one another through encouragement, sharing
of ideas, readiness to help, communications and new contacts. All these are not possible if
people are to distance themselves socially. In this paper, we expose the aberrations and
inappropriateness of using the term 'social distancing' as a measure in combating Covid-19
and support the use of the term 'physical distancing' instead.
KEYWORDS: Covid-19, social distancing, pandemic, physical distancing