ABSTRACT As cases of COVID-19 were rising in India and the country’s political leadership instituted a nationwide lockdown, one of the authors of this article received a timely invitation from a friend – a government official – to make rounds with him and his team to various neighbourhoods within the metropolitan city of Bangalore. The team consisted of members working in healthcare, municipal corporation, and local police, and was tasked with ensuring that the government enacted measures of social distancing were being observed by local residents in public spaces. The author witnessed, in real time, the ways in which residents were engaging with the containment measures that were instituted as part of the political leadership’s attempt to flatten the curve of COVID-19. What was observed in an urban slum was particularly poignant and illuminating. The observations captured how, for residents of the urban slum, social distancing is more an aspiration than an attainable reality. Indeed, social distancing is impossible if such a protocol does not come with concomitant economic support targeted to the most socially vulnerable in society.

中文翻译：

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城市贫民之间不可能保持社交距离：以 COVID-19 时代的印度贫民窟为例

摘要 随着 COVID-19 病例在印度不断上升，该国的政治领导层在全国范围内实施封锁，本文作者之一及时收到了一位朋友（一位政府官员）的邀请，与他和他的团队一起巡视各种班加罗尔大都市内的社区。该团队由在医疗保健、市政公司和当地警察部门工作的成员组成，其任务是确保当地居民在公共场所遵守政府制定的社会疏远措施。作者实时目睹了居民参与遏制措施的方式，这些措施是作为政治领导层试图拉平 COVID-19 曲线的一部分而制定的。在城市贫民窟中观察到的情况特别尖锐和具有启发性。观察结果表明，对于城市贫民窟的居民来说，保持社交距离更像是一种愿望，而不是可实现的现实。事实上，如果这样的协议没有伴随着针对社会中最弱势群体的经济支持，那么社会隔离是不可能的。