As Coronavirus continues to spread across the country, people are taking distancing measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 from person to person. “Social distancing“ advises to stay home, minimize public outings, and to be more than 6 feet away from other people since droplets of the virus can travel about 3-6 feet. Many people are:
Working from home instead of their office
Closing schools and switching to online classes
Facetiming or calling instead of visiting loved ones
Closing restaurants or switching to take-out only/limiting number of patrons allowed in the store at a time
Canceling meetings and big events
Distancing is meant to slow the spread of COVID-19 by physically staying away from other people to “flatten the curve“ of the number of cases increasing every day.
For example, the curve below shows how COVID-19 has rapidly grown since the first confirmed case in January 22. In a matter of almost two months, the United States went from one confirmed case to 2,179 confirmed cases. That means COVID-19 is reproducing quickly, and the only way to slow it down is to limit contact with others.
Image from Johns Hopkins: Coronavirus, Social Distancing and Self Quarantine (adapted from CDC)
You can view a creative simulation of how the virus spreads and could potentially minimize in this Washington Post article, where the chart below came from.
Graph credits to The Washington Post: Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve.”
If you’re staying more than 6 feet away from others in well-ventilated, public spaces and washing your hands frequently, your chances of contracting COVID-19 will become very low. Because we have no immunity to the virus, if you contract it and are around others in public, your chance of contracting and spreading the virus is higher. It is important to remember:
Not all carriers will have symptoms, so you can transmit the virus without feeling sick
Hospitals may ban or limit visitors and we know that this will be hard, but hospitals would not do this if it were not absolutely necessary to keep patients and their families safe
While the term we use is social distancing, it really means physically distancing - please check in (digitally) with family and each other and use the opportunity to connect with people you haven’t seen in a while or live far away.
If you do feel sick, it is important to know what to do. The answer is not too different from preventative quarantining. You will likely isolate yourself for two weeks until you are not contagious anymore. If you have symptoms:
Stay home to get medical care
Call your doctor before going to get medical care
Avoid public transportation
Isolate yourself from others in your home
If you feel it is an emergency, make sure to get medical care (Call 911 or your doctor first and be sure to put a facemask on)
We understand that these sacrifices will be hard on all of us, but they’re necessary to keep us and our loved ones safe. Staying home as much as possible for the next few weeks will minimize the spread of COVID-19, and put the world back on the right track towards being healthy again.