Gunter,

I think that the social distancing rule should be based on who is there.

If the people next to you look like this, then 6 feet apart should be enforced........20 feet advisable. 

However, if the person looks like this...........then 3 feet makes much more sense 

Sorry, I couldn't help it. Hopefully nobody was offended.

Seriously though, I think the social distancing rules make scientific sense........even  at 6 feet.........in some circumstances.

It's NOT an exact science though. Each environment is different.

Are you outdoors with the sun shining(that kills CV in 1 minute)?

Is the wind blowing and its cloudy outside?

Are you indoors at a nursing home?

Are you waiting in line at the grocery store?

Generally speaking, the farther away that you are from an infected person, the less likely that you will be exposed to an amount of the virus that can infect you....but the law of diminishing returns applies.

At 20 feet for instance, increasing the distance another foot or even 3 feet will not make a bit of difference. There will be zero virus that makes it 20 feet to you....though you can walk into the air that they just expelled virus into. 

What about at 10 feet? Since the virus can survive for hours in the air inside, its reasonable to assume that unless you walk into the air they spewed virus into, extending the space another foot won't matter much.

What about 6 feet? Hmmmm, one would think that it could make a difference.

What about 3 feet? One would think that just standing in line with somebody 3 feet from you could expose you to some of their CV cooties.

But here's the thing. People don't remain stationary for hours. If that was the case, social distancing would be extremely effective at preventing the spread. However, in places where you are stationary.........churches, movie theaters and so on, social distancing should help to minimize exposure.

Places like grocery stores or shopping malls or even gyms, where people are moving around, they are passing thru the air that many other people passed thru within a short period of time. It makes no difference if you were 3 feet from them for 2 seconds or passed thru the place where they were 10 seconds earlier for 2 seconds...........and the 2 of you stayed 10 feet apart the entire time.

"Social distancing....no evidence it works" is a misleading header. It works pretty well but the distance isn't foolproof. A sick person wearing  a mask helps a lot in preventing spread through socially coughs and sneezes. The amount of distance needed is not black and white and will vary with each situation. Examples: much more than 6 feet may be needed if indoors for long periods like at a restaurant especially since you can't wear a mask while eating, but less than 6 feet may be enough if outdoors in just passing someone briefly as long as they're not sneezing or coughing during the pass.

  In the workplace since one is there for long periods of time, 6 feet may not be far enough in all cases though wearing masks will help.  

 This link includes one person's thoughts about inside vs outside, duration,, etc., and how it affects the distancing needed. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this but it is very clearly written. Here is the link fwiw:

https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

Excellent points Larry.

I found your link to be the best out there for clearly explaining this using science and common sense and covering it very comprehensively.

I'll be using it to post on future threads here. Thanks