'You still bump into the stickers from time to time: “Six Feet of Distance.” It’s weird and anachronistic at this point. No one pays any attention anymore.
Still it would be nice to know where this came from. Oddly, we don’t really know.
Anthony Fauci was asked this question this week in U.S. House hearings on the COVID response.
Incredibly, he didn’t really know how this came about.
“It just sort of appeared,” he told the subcommittee, which was an unusual answer since he otherwise said 100 times that he could not remember anything. Here, however, he admits there was never any science behind it.
That’s extremely peculiar.
This rule governed all social interaction for two years and more.
Back in March 2021, the New York Times, of all egregious venues, got
curious about this too. Reporter Emily Anthes asked around the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the mandate and the science behind it.
She quotes Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
“It never struck me that six feet was particularly sensical in the context of mitigation. I wish the C.D.C. would just come out and say this is not a major issue.”
She wrote that the origin of the six-foot distancing recommendation is something of a mystery.
“It’s almost like it was pulled out of thin air,” said Linsey Marr, an expert on viral transmission at Virginia Tech University.'
"It Just Sort Of Appeared" - Fauci Comes Clean Over 'Science-less' Six-Foot-Distancing Rule - ZeroHedge
The
Behavioural Insights Team (
BIT), also known unofficially as the "
Nudge Unit", is a UK-based global
social purpose organisation that generates and applies behavioural insights to inform policy and improve public services, following
nudge theory.
[1] Using
social engineering, as well as techniques in
psychology,
behavioral economics, and
marketing, the purpose of the organisation is to influence public thinking and
decision making in order to improve compliance with
government policy and thereby decrease social and government costs related to inaction and poor compliance with policy and regulation.
Behavioural Insights Team - Wikipedia