Social Distancing: What is it and Why is it Important?

These lecture-goers are more than 6 feet away from other people. This is one form of social distancing.

Other options are cancelling or postponing events altogether, or staying home.

By definition, social distancing refers to infection control actions taken by public health officials to stop or slow down the spread of a highly contagious disease.

Some recent examples include:

• the cancellation of Austin (TX) Southwest Film Festival altogether.

• a major infectious diseases conference on HIV went from a live event in Boston to a virtual conference.

Is all this necessary?

• I think cancelling or going to virtual makes a lot of sense. Remember what we are trying to do here—Stop The Spread of COVID-19.

• These actions are attempts to interrupt virus transmission.

On a personal note, we are curtailing travel and staying away from crowds and airports. Just sayin’…