Back in grade school, way back. We had our own type of social distancing. Remember the kid with the snotty nose? We all had someone we called Booger. We steered clear of him, especially when we saw him stick one under his desk. (can you imagine being the janitor having to clean that up after the school year)?
Remember the kid who was always sorta stinky? We were harsh in those days, may have called him stinky or some other politically incorrect name. We never new why he was stinky but he was.
Recall the kid that was always dirty, had it on his/her face, arms and so forth? I think there was a comic book character about this kid.
Then there was the kid that was always coughing, maybe he/she had asthma, not sure, but stay clear.
These kids all had something in common. Cooties. We would automatically communicate with friends and we knew to social distance from these kids. No one wanted to catch their cooties.
This was obviously very crude and by today’s standards would never be tolerated; somebody would get a call from school about bullying. The only way we ever understood how cruel this social distancing was, was when we were the stinky, snotty coughing kid. Justice without intervention.