Editorial: Live your life, at a safe distance

We’ve all heard the advisories against public gatherings of 100 or more, and for standing 6 feet away from the next person.

But perhaps this “social-distancing” thing doesn’t have to be as lonely as it sounds: Just about everybody has to do it now.

Few people outside the public-health profession were accustomed to that term previously, but now it’s the general directive to slow the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus that produces the COVID-19 respiratory disease.

This way of life could be with us for several weeks — even months — and what may help with accepting the new reality is understanding why it’s all necessary.

That slowdown will be absolutely essential to keeping people healthy, as well as health-care systems intact. Overwhelming clinics and hospitals with COVID-19 patients will mean care and access to supplies and equipment could be rationed, and the health of care providers will be compromised, with compounding exposure to the viruses.

So we must do it, for everyone’s well-being. Technologies and social innovations have made coping strategies increasingly practical for those who can tap them.

Some schools are sending students home from crowded classrooms to do assignments online. This is a rational policy theoretically, but problematic for lower-income families who, even in this technologically connected age, may not have the computers or internet service at home to enable this.

That digital-access hurdle has been around for years, and efforts to close the gap have fallen short.

That’s why it’s good to see some in the private sector stepping up to meet an emergency need. Digital service provider Spectrum has offered to provide free broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to homes with K-12 or college students who now lack broadband subscription. Adults in the home also may need such access to exercise work-from-home options.

This should greatly help those families with at least internet-ready computers to use at home. For those who lack them, libraries and schools should keep computer labs available for public use as much as possible.

More government services are available online or otherwise away from closed-in agencies than many people realize. Sheri Kajiwara, the city’s director of customer services, wrote about some in a commentary that appeared in the Sunday Honolulu Star-Advertiser Insight section.

The public can file for a required REAL ID (with the star) or pursue other government services online; links are found through a tab at the top of the honolulu.gov site. There are self-service kiosks that handle city business 24/7, posted in various communities. And the state provides such access points as well.

The private sector is working to adapt, offering various improvements as an amenity, too. Just one example: Consolidated Theatres has said it is working to reduce seat occupancy in the cinemas to create the recommended distance between moviegoers. This is helpful. Going out to the movies, safely, could be a welcome escape.

There’s much planning that individuals can do on their own to weather this disruption to normal routines. There are online options for ordering everything from restaurant food to groceries. Drive-through or curbside services are useful options. Hitting the supermarket at uncrowded hours would be wise, as well. Form a hui to share household errands among family members and friends.

These coping strategies would not be anyone’s first choice, but they will make the present crisis more livable. Continue good hygiene habits as well, and isolate if feeling under the weather. Common sense is the essential virtue here, as well as empathy. This is a globally shared experience, after all.