The rules of the COVID-19 pandemic are clear: stay home and wash your hands. Restaurants, bars, theatres, gyms, offices, and schools have all been shut down to reduce the temptation for people to go out and be in crowds.

Even after only a few days of social isolation is our new normal, many people are already feeling the effects. Humans are, by nature, social beings, and not being allowed to go out and see people is difficult for almost anyone.

As you start to miss your social circle more and more, the temptation to go over to a friend’s house is likely becoming increasingly difficult to resist, but experts are asking you to please stay put.

Sorry, You Can’t Go See Your Friend

While large gatherings are definitely the highest-risk for transmitting the virus, experts are now imploring people to avoid even meeting in small groups. This holds true for even healthy individuals, visiting healthy friends.

Jagdish Khubchandani, associate chair, and professor of health science at Ball State University says that you are “playing with fire” if you visit friends and that at this point, we need to act as though every one were infected. Even the simple act of going to your neighbor’s house for a cup of tea could be putting you, your family and friends, and your entire community at risk [1].

The main reason for this is because you or whomever you are visiting could be carrying the virus without even realizing it. A recently-published study from China determined that asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus (that is, carriers who are not showing symptoms) are likely to spread the virus the most [2]. 

In some cases, people have been shown to have had the virus in their system for weeks before exhibiting symptoms, which is why it is important to make your social circle as small as possible right now.

Kirsten Hokeness, professor and chair of the Department of Science and Technology at Bryant University, describes seeing your friends like a game of pool, where the cue ball represents the coronavirus.

“If the white ball is the virus and you have a table full of balls to target, the ‘virus’ has a lot of options,” she said. “Your friend, people your friend lives with, including anyone who’s older or has underlying conditions who’s more susceptible.” [1]

She then explains that if you start taking other balls off the table, the virus has nowhere to go. The coronavirus cannot exist without a host, so it needs human carriers to pass it around in order for it to continue living. If you don’t pass it to anyone, it stops there.

Without a vaccine available, our only tool to fight this pandemic is social distancing.

Read: Opinion: Are You Young and unafraid of the coronavirus? Great, Now stop killing people.

Why is Social Isolation so Hard?

For most of us, this new reality we live in has been incredibly tough. This is because human beings have a fundamental need for connection. Historically, living in groups increased your chances of survival, and this need to be with others has persisted through evolution.

Human society is built around social gatherings and cooperative engagement. In short, to be social is to be human.

Social isolation, then, flies in the face of what it means to be human. It goes against the fabric of what it means to be a community, which is why getting together with others is so hard to resist, even when we’re being instructed not to.

Social distancing is particularly challenging when it is abrupt or unexpected. No longer going to class, for example, or having to work from home when you’re used to plenty of face-to-face interactions and conversations throughout your day, can be a dramatic shift from what you’re used to.

What’s more, stressful times tend to deepen our need for social interaction, to provide emotional support and psychological calming to one another. In times like these, our need to be with friends and family is at an all-time high, but the necessity of staying away from them is even higher [3].

Read: Why Are People Hoarding Toilet Paper? Psychologists Have An Answer

How to Stay Connected While Social Isolating

While nothing is quite the same as an in-person interaction, we are extremely lucky to have technology at our disposal. Video conferencing apps allow us to see and speak with our friends and family members, even if we can’t go see them in real life. Here are some tips for how to stay connected while in social isolation:

Talk with one friend every day. Setting a goal like that will remind you to reach out to at least one person on a daily basis- if you can do more, great! 

Viktor Sander, a social psychology consultant with SocialPro based in Sweden, explains that you don’t need to meet anyone in order to feel connected.

“It’s all about reciprocally opening up to each other, sharing experiences and making the other person feel heard,” he says, “and that’s something you can do over the phone or internet.” [4]

Focus on your connections with the people you are at home with. You suddenly have much more time to spend with whoever you live with- a spouse, kids, or a roommate. Now is the perfect time to focus on improving those relationships. Try planning some fun activities to do together, and use this time to strengthen the bond you have with them [4].

Have a virtual watch party with friends. Netflix has launched a new feature called Netflix party that allows you to stream a show or movie at the same time as your friends. You can then do a group chat afterward to talk about it.

This idea can be applied to multiple types of gatherings. Try hosting a virtual dinner party, or simply have each of your friends pour themselves a beer, a glass of wine, or a cup of coffee and host a zoom chat to feel like you’re hanging out, even from different homes [4].

Stream a class. There are many virtual courses that are offering their classes at a discounted rate right now, and with extra time on your hands, now’s the perfect time to take that art class that you’ve always thought about, or try an online dance or cooking class. Many gyms and fitness studios are offering a variety of free online classes, so you now have the opportunity to try something new, without the risk of embarrassment that sometimes comes along with attending a class in-person [4].

Be a part of an online community. Websites like Reddit are a fun way to engage with others who have shared interests. There are subreddits for whatever you’re into, and they can often provide a real sense of community within them [4].

Social Distancing Doesn’t Mean You Have to be Antisocial

Just because you can’t have face-to-face interactions with the people in your life, doesn’t mean that you can’t interact at all. The way we interact has to change significantly for the time-being, but it won’t be forever.

The faster we can contain the spread of this virus, the sooner we can resume life as we once knew it and regain a sense of normalcy in our lives.

Keep Reading: Italian Man Wears a Giant Cardboard Disc to Enforce Social Distancing in Rome

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