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COVID-19
PANDEMIC

Responding to Those Who Ignore

Social Distancing Orders

By Brittany Johnson, MS, MPH

In late April, as COVID-19 continued to spread throughout the everyone, for some, the call to isolate can be uniquely confounded
United States, a video emerged showing an alleged gathering of by a harmful domestic environment. If you know someone who
hundreds of attendees congregating at a house party. The city’s seems to unnecessarily defy stay-at-home orders, ask them “what
mayor subsequently rebuked the partygoers, calling the celebration makes it so challenging for you to stay home during this time?” and
“foolish and reckless.” The governor similarly condemned the at- offer help or counsel based upon the information received. If the
tendees for putting themselves and their families in danger. In the isolation is triggering someone’s feelings of loneliness and depres-
midst of a global pandemic, where an infectious disease can be easily sion, for example, it may work to engage them in virtual games via
transmitted through close contact, it is not hard to imagine why bla- social media or offer to host a virtual party on a video conferencing
tant violations of social distancing orders would elicit widespread app like Zoom or Skype. If the cause is that someone’s food re-
contempt and ire. sources are bland or scarce, consider referring them to the area food
While the urgency of social distancing cannot be denied, we have bank, church, or even purchase a contactless delivery meal to be
a choice in how we “sell the danger” to violators. Be- sent to their residence. These contactless services are
rating those who neglect precautions to prevent currently being offered by many pizza chains and
the spread of COVID-19 is more often than delivery services like Grubhub and Door
not incompatible with inducing behav- Dash. No-contact delivery is also avail-
ioral change. People tend to respond able for flowers, groceries, and pre-
better to empathy. scription medications. Assume that
If your family or friends are violations of social distancing are
leaving their homes frivolously, a consequence of a solvable issue,
try to uncover why and respond and if you are able to, help fill
to that problem. that void. Health behavior may
Follow-up stories to the not be an extension of a char-
above-mentioned large party acter flaw, but rather a manifes-
revealed that the host initiated tation of one’s social condition.
the gathering in memory of two If we treat the social condition,
friends he lost to gun violence. the behavioral change may fol-
Grief, rather than indifference to low.
people’s health or public policy,
was the root of this gathering. When strangers violate the
Sometimes, when rushing to judg- tenets of social distancing,
ment concerning those who violate social keep a consistent approach, and
distancing policies, the bigger picture is cloak it in compassion.
missed. People and governments can overlook
the issues that drive people to seemingly violate edicts. Subsequent reporting and public discourse about this
In some communities, people’s personal actions can be driven by house party attempted to correlate non-compliance to policy with
an unstable home life, food insecurity, mental illness, loneliness, fi- stereotypes of those who seem to be more susceptible to COVID-
nancial insecurity, and/or a host of other complexities. Before being 19. It seems to be human nature for people to dismiss events based
able to change actions, it is necessary to acknowledge the underlying upon unfair or incomplete knowledge. Consider the media coverage
conditions that push violators towards the undesirable, even risky, regarding the recent wave of protestors who have begun to gather
public conduct. en masse to demand reopening of the economy and lifting stay at
Under the CDC’s tips for social distancing, there is a recommen- home orders. Much of the verbiage assigned to these occurrences
dation to “avoid gatherings of any size outside [of] your household, focuses on political affiliations, impact on the economy, and other
such as a friend’s house, parks, restaurants, shops, or any other motivations driving the protests. There are no clandestine or outright
place.” While staying home is certainly inconvenient for nearly slogans that the protestors’ violations of social distancing orders are
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