Social distancing in the time of COVID-19

By Edison Liu and Jill Goldthwait

Social distancing

This animation explains how social distance slows the spread of diseases like SARS and COVID-19.

This series of articles is about the COVID-19 pandemic but specifically deals with social distancing.

What is social distancing?
Why do we need social distancing?
How do we do social distancing right?

These articles were written by Jackson Laboratory President and CEO Edison T. Liu, M.D., and Jill Goldthwait. Liu and Coldthwait are medical professionals who have broad governmental, scientific, and management experience. Goldthwait is an R.N. who has served in the Maine State Senate for eight years and is currently serving in local government. Liu previously led the scientific response for the country of Singapore for the SARS crisis in 2003.

What is social distancing and why is it needed?Social distancing is proven to help protect you from getting the virus and becoming sick. But what is social distancing, why do we need it, and how can we do it right? social-distance-ed-liu

What is the science behind the social distancing recommendations?Implementing social distancing can be done at the individual level which is focused on a person not catching COVID-19 or at a population level to slow the spread of the pandemic across large groups of people. social-distance-ed-liu-part-2

Why testing for COVID-19 is so importantSocial distancing, travel restrictions, shelter-in-place, and lockdowns are all blunt instruments in fighting a pandemic. But what if doctors could pinpoint who among the people with cough and fever have COVID-19, and even identify who are asymptomatic carriers of the virus? social-distance-ed-liu-part-3

The surge: When is it coming and how do we prepare?What is the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic? It’s all about scale. social-distance-ed-liu-part-4

The new normal after the COVID-19 surgeNow that we have social distancing policies and protocols in place, how long will it be before they can be relaxed? social-distance-ed-liu-part-5