Right now, people are being asked to work together to help slow down or even stop the spread of coronavirus. As well as the tips Nanogirl had about hand washing and covering sneezes, we are all trying to do something called social distancing. 

What is social distancing?

Usually, around the world people live and interact with each other closely. We go to movies, restaurants, shows, playdates, schools and playgrounds. When we are close to each other a lot, we have more chance of spreading germs between us. Normally this is not such a problem, but Coronavirus is making some people  (old people and people with poor health already) very sick, so we want to help them stay safe. Life can sometimes look like this especially in countries with a lot of people!

To help stop germs spreading so easily we have to try to spread out and make the germ's chance of moving between people really hard. We need to make it look more like this:

Schools are hard places to keep space between people. Classrooms keep us close together and kids can find it tricky to stop hugging, touching, sitting close to and sneezing upon others. Whilst kids don't normally get too sick with coronavirus, their teachers, older family members or other people they see or come into contact with may get sicker. 

By staying home, you are making space between you and other people and doing a great thing towards keeping everyone in NZ well. Congratulations on being a GERM FIGHTING SUPER HERO! 

When the spread of the germs has been slowed right down, we can all return to school and get back to normal. Until then, have fun learning in a different way. Be kind to your new home teachers, listen to them, give them space if they need to do their work too, take responsibility for your learning and keep using your amazing ORCA values to make your time at home really special! 

See you soon!