Social distancing is non-pharmaceutical infection prevention and control intervention implemented to avoid/decrease contact between those who are infected with a disease-causing pathogen and those who are not, so as to stop or slow down the rate and extent of disease transmission in a community. This eventually leads to a decrease in spread, morbidity and mortality due to the disease.
One way to slow the spread of viruses is social distancing (also called physical distancing).
The more space between you and others, the harder it is for the virus to spread.
Other examples of social distancing that allow you to avoid larger crowds or crowded spaces are:
- Working from home instead of at the office
- Closing schools or switching to online classes
- Visiting loved ones by electronic devices instead of in-person
- Cancelling or postponing conferences and large meetings
Keep in touch with others
You can still keep in touch with loved ones while you practise social distancing:
- use video chats
- schedule phone calls to chat with others you would normally see
- use online groups to interact
- chat with neighbours while keeping 1.5 metres apart
How long will we have to keep social distancing?
Probably for several months. But we may have to do it over and over again since the outbreak could come in waves.
Research by the Imperial College in Great Britain “would suggest you have to institute these kinds of measures for five months, very vigorously,” says Gounder, the infectious disease specialist.
“And then you may be able to relax for a period. And then you would re-institute as the cases go up again. But we’re basically looking at doing this over and over and over again, even after a five-month period of strict social distancing, in order to curb cases until we have a vaccine.”
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