The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 10 letter word SOCIAL DISTANCING
S
O
C
I
A
L
D
I
S
T
A
N
C
I
N
G
More clues leading to the result SOCIAL DISTANCING
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "staying apart" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case staying apart = social distancing.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.