Coronavirus: It’s not me, it’s you.

With 90% of your news and social feeds currently being filled with posts about empty supermarket shelves, newfound experts giving their advice and others simply shrugging off what they proclaim to be mass hysteria, Coronavirus is already a major part of your life. Countries are setting new precedents in isolation and containment tactics and the extremities to which governing bodies are going to will continue to ‘wow but why’ us.

In times like these, where we seek the latest and most relevant advice, we often fill the voids by looking around at our peers for social proof. How should I behave? What mask should I be wearing? Should I even be wearing a mask? Do I buy one hundred toilet rolls? How much pasta will I need over the next 8 weeks? Do I cancel this? Do I cancel that? Will it really affect me?

Major conferences and events have been cancelled around the world as organisers exercise a relatively new concept called “Social Distancing” and you should take heed. Without going to absolute extremes, there are many things you can do on a daily basis and this is a very good practice of another concept called “Social Responsibility”. Social Distancing is your new Social Responsibility and you should start now.

Why Social Distancing is a key part of your Social Responsibility in times like these. And why you actually matter to someone else.

Me, as a man in his mid-30s, the demographic-statistical-likelihood of me dying from COVID-19 is 0.2% if I contract the virus. And that’s if I actually register myself as having contracted the virus. However, being active, eating healthily, physically fit and with a very tough immune system, it’s even lower. I am not scared in the slightest of getting the virus, nor am I scared of the repercussions. Very few things knock me back. This means that my day-to-day life habits will not probably not change. I don’t make decisions out of fear and I certainly don’t inhibit my life. I will take precautions. I will wash my hands more regularly than usual (sing happy birthday twice). I will avoid touching my face when I haven’t washed my hands for a while. I will be fully aware of the germs my mobile phone constantly carries. I will not wear a mask; especially not a dust mask, as many people are wearing — DJ Khaled, you’re fucking guilty. I will not stop boarding flights to places that may have the same or higher risk. I will abide by rules set by my government. I will listen to and advise my community around me. But most of all, I will do my utmost to protect others from contracting the virus. These are the other people who are weaker than me. Who are younger and older than me. Who are not in their prime. Who are some of the most important people inside our community.

Because this is not about me. It’s about you.

The reason the infected wear masks, put simply, is to not infect others. One sneeze, one cough is a potential killer to someone else. The droplets that can land in common areas and attach to others’ hands and clothes, can lead to a full contraction of something we still have limited knowledge of. There are contradicting reports and contradicting responses but there are three things that are certain: COVID-19 exists, COVID-19 spreads easily, COVID-19 can be limited by the actions you take.

As I walk into meetings with clients, I jokingly say “this is my Coronawave” as I refuse handshakes and the Spanish customary ‘two-cheek kisses’. Clients understand, uncomfortably. But if we think about it for a second, three of my team walk into a meeting room with three of their team. That’s six people sat around a meeting room table at 11am offering each other water and coffee. But what happened from 7am until 11am? Four hours potentially filled with gym, buses, metros, cafes, other meetings. Who knows? How many people intersect and interchange? How many of these people are genuinely responsible people? Who washed their hands after a boardroom handshake session? Wash your damn hands!!! Even in everyday life, in public toilets, I often cry out “wash your damn hands” as I see people walk out of cubicles; heading back out into the world of interaction. Most ignore me. Others confront me and end up understanding my logic. Others don’t. I continue anyway.

Your Social Responsibility.

You need to think less about yourself in this situation. You’re great. You’re strong. You’re healthy and you’ll defeat whatever lurgees you are dealt. But the other people who you cross paths with may not be in such a good position to handle something like this. It may knock them back. It may kill them.

By no means am I a sensationalist. I often criticise the media for their click-bait headlines, their abstraction of context, their driving of fear into the masses just to sell the ads they need to sell to survive. But I am someone who fully understands that the continued onset and contagion of COVID-19 results not just in a loss of life but in a loss of jobs, businesses, welfares, lifestyles and more. A complete disruption to the products and services we depend upon. These are our community assets driven by people and we need to protect these people who are the pillars of the communities and from which we derive our own personal growth.

Having spent many years in the UK Scouts, the motto is always prevalent in my day to day life. They promise to “Think of others before themselves. And do a good turn every day”. Now is your turn to do a good turn. Use logic and reason before acting. Why are you panic-buying toilet roll? Why are you buying up all the pasta? Do you really need that many canned beans?

Are there people living in your community who are living paycheck to paycheck who may not be able to “invest” the same? Are there elderly, weaker or disabled people who can’t carry the goods you’re loading into your SUV? It’s a time to not be selfish and to be more considerate to others on whom your fingerprints set. You’re working right now to protect and improve your community and to eradicate a frustrating but very real virus.

Social Distancing.

It’s absolutely necessary. We’re seeing reactions from football leagues, conference organisers, governments and more. We need to distance ourselves not just beyond the 1-metre rule but from the crowds who we may affect. Again, this is not about self-protection, but moreso about working collectively to limit to spread of a virus where each individual is a catalyst. You can spread. You can receive. You’re a major player in this movement; both the positive and the negative.

Self-isolation is the complete opposite of everything we know about social interaction. It’s what eventually leads to insanity at its most extreme but this is a short burst. Use it to self-reflect. Use it to binge-watch. Use it to be grateful that we live in a world where we can videoconference and instant message. Use it wisely and take accountability for your actions. If you carry any of the symptoms of COVID-19, don’t be in denial but take the necessary precautions to limit your movement for the sake of others.

Yesterday, we decided to limit access to our office in Barcelona and have everyone work from home. The original suggestion didn’t even come from me but I wish it had. I walk to work each day. Isolated. Not coming within 1 metre of another human being. The idea came from two people who spend the daily commute on a rush hour train where it’s unavoidable whilst smothered by someone else’s armpit. And it made complete sense to me. So we agreed to have everyone work from home until further notice. But we can. We have the systems, tools and processes to work from anywhere barring client meetings. We live in the cloud so this is an easy transition for us and it makes sense until the virus is REALLY contained. What we are doing is eliminating excessive risk for the protection of ourselves but, more importantly, of others.

We must bow down socially for the sake of community. Remove the norms we have built over the years to integrate and cultivate. Build a temporary barrier — a forcefield if you will — to do your part in a collective communal effort. As big or as small or as deadly as you may find COVID-19, there are people out there whom it has a profound effect on. So educate yourself and act as if your family are the dependents. Grandma is weak. Don’t send an attacking virus her way.

Be logical. Do good. It always comes back around tenfold. I hope our actions protect those who are weaker than us.

Ben Walker

CEO @ The Zoom Agency