Social isolation is tough for urbanists. Do it anyway.
It’s a painful truth for urban extroverts like me: during this worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, socially isolating yourself for a couple of weeks is the right thing to do.
According to new reports, a significant amount of coronavirus contagion happens *before* symptoms show up. Even if you aren’t coughing, you can have the virus and you can spread it around. Early, large-scale studies in China show significant amounts of virus spread by people who had not yet developed symptoms, per a CNN story this week.
This kind of isolation is really tough on anyone like me who thrives on being in lively public spaces, or in crowded restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. The urge to get outside around other people is strong — and so is the urge to help out local businesses that are suffering from the income loss.
Taking a two-week break from all the great things cities offer is a hard ask, but it’s an important duty to carry out if we want to prevent the spread of this virus. Healthy cities need healthy people.
While you’re inside, take advantage of the chance to catch up on some reading about cities and urbanism. Here are a few articles from recent years you could start with, all available online:
The steep costs of living so far apart from each other
Washington Post, 2015
What does a traffic jam in Atlanta have to do with segregation? Quite a lot.
New York Times, 2015
Atlanta’s Raising $2.5 Billion to Invest in Transit. Will It Be Money Well-Spent?
StreetsBlog, 2017
