Social distancing, not travel bans, is crucial to limiting coronavirus’ spread
Aggressive actions to prevent — or at least to slow — the spread of COVID-19 are being taken across the world. Universities are cancelling in-person classes, while academic conferences and political rallies are postponed. Shops are shuttering. Sports leagues are suspending seasons or competing in empty stadiums.
According to ScienceNews Such “social distancing” measures, as they are called by public health experts, are considered essential in controlling a viral pandemic . What’s not helpful at this point is banning travel from other affected countries, experts say.
“I recommend that people voluntarily cut back on non-essential travel” — a form of social distancing in that people would be avoiding crowded airports, train stations and bus depots, says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “But I do not expect that travel bans will meaningfully impact the trajectory of the outbreak.”
Acting quickly to establish social distancing measures can “flatten the epidemic curve” of an outbreak, experts say. That means the outbreak spreads more slowly and reaches its peak later, with a lower number of active cases at the peak than if no preventive measures were taken.
Social distancing can take many forms. Individuals can wave hello instead of shaking hands, or avoid busy shops and crowds, in order to lower the risk of coming into contact with an infected person or contaminated surface. Communities can close schools or cancel public events. Social distancing isn’t an all-or-nothing endeavor. Even small actions, like washing your hands, can help flatten the curve, experts say.
But it’s not immediately clear how aggressive we need to be now, or how long social distancing measures should last. That’s because we still don’t have a good understanding of where the virus is or how it spreads. “These are serious unknowns, and it really complicates decision making,” Rivers says. “There are no straightforward answers.”
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