Are Americans practicing social distancing ?

It has been four months since I have been following social distancing. I have been staying away from meeting friends and family. I have also been refraining myself from going to public places. However occasionally I go out for hiking and trekking as it gives me peace.

Today I went to Gunpowder State Falls and state park in Maryland. This state park is known for beaches and dense forests. After a 45 minute drive when we entered the park I immediately decided a spot to sit a near beach. This spot was isolated and away from rest of the people. I laid down my rug, managed to make my umbrella stand on ground and started playing board games. In less than an half an hour we got surrounded by people who started setting up their umbrellas and rugs near my spot.

I was shocked ! They did not even maintain a distance of 6 feet from us! They didn’t ask us just set up their umbrellas. This family had six people – two adults and four kids. I mean seriously ! How can one be so socially unaware! Oh man, in the name of humanity at least give us some space. This park has 15,000 acres of space and this family decided to chose a space next to my family. This is totally unacceptable so soon we decided to leave that place and move our umbrella and rug 20 feet away from my current spot. More people then started coming and setting up their tents and umbrellas.

It was 1 PM, 90 Fahrenheit and very hot so I also decided to go to the beach and dip my feet in cold water. What I saw was adults, teenagers, kids everywhere swimming and the water was so dirty that it looked almost black. I was even more shocked when I saw a couple teaching swimming to their infant. The mother said to her baby – ‘kick kick kick’ and ‘very good’. Oh man, I thought ‘Are they not scared their child might get infected with the covid ?’

America is a developed nation I thought when I landed here a year ago. My experience here has been very pleasant. People are mostly very kind, polite, helpful and respect each other’s personal space. But this year I feel I am in a different nation. Last month I went to a park in the evening to spend an hour, chose a very isolated space near lake. Soon my personal space ruined by a father-son duo who decided to do fishing at the same spot. It was totally unacceptable to me and we left.

Last year when I would go out for trekking and hiking I would see a lot of people around enjoying their summers but this year parks are already full. By full I mean they are at their maximum capacity. It makes me wonder if these people know about covid situation going around? And if yes, why are they not maintaining social distancing? Do they think they are covid free?

It is my genuine request to all the people reading my blog please maintain social distancing. You may think that there is no such thing called corona, covid or it may be a thing but not deadly. But please understand there are people who are taking this very seriously and to them their safety matters the most.

One may say if you are so concerned about covid you should stay at home. I totally agree to his/her point but do understand staying at home from the past four months has taken a toll on people’s inner peace and is forcing them to move out for a while while taking safety measures. So people like me go out once a month and decide to choose a spot away from crowd. Please don’t take away their spot from them and let those people enjoy while following social distancing.