By Thomas Lucy 

During this stressful time as a country and community, precautions have been made to slow the spread and counteract the new coronavirus. The two main ideas that have been heavily practiced (and sometimes ignored) around the country are social distancing and quarantine. State governors, President Donald Trump, and leaders around the world have recommended that these are the best ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to keep people safe. But what do social distancing and quarantine really do?

Social distancing is described by Johns Hopkins Medicine as, “deliberately increasing the physical space between people to avoid spreading illness.” In the case of COVID-19, it is recommended that everyone stays at least six feet apart because that space decreases the chance of the virus spreading exponentially. The virus can be spread many ways, including being present on surfaces, droplets from coughing, sneezing, and touching one’s nose and mouth.

Social distancing is not a cure-all, as it allows people to be outside and still come in contact with one another, and the six feet rule is almost the bare minimum one can do to prevent the spread of the virus. Jose Jimenez, a professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado, argues in a Denver Post article that six feet is not enough and uses this analogy: “‘The best analogy is when someone is smoking tobacco or marijuana… Think about how many times you have walked by people and smelled tobacco or pot smoke that someone else had exhaled. Often, those people were farther than six feet.’’ There is also uncertainty with social distancing where people often have a hard time finding what is safe and what isn’t. There are many ways to keep distance and still be able to catch up with friends, such as people sitting in their cars in parking lots, going on walks, and sitting outside on people’s porches. But there are still risks associated with these examples.

Quarantine is described by Live Science as, “a state or place of isolation for a person or animal who may have come in contact with contagious diseases. The period of isolation lowers the chance that a person or animal could transfer illnesses to others.” This means no contact and keeping away from everyone. The quarantine can be either voluntary or forced. Many people who have fallen ill with the coronavirus are required to be quarantined by medical facilities by a government’s authority for at least 14 days. Also, many people self-quarantine after traveling, because airplanes and other types of public transportation around the world include contact with many people from all backgrounds. 

How do social distancing and quarantine actually affect the spread of a virus? 
First, let’s look at some data collected by the Washington Post that are based on simulations that include a virus that acts like COVID-19. The first set of data looks at a situation where nothing is done, and people live their lives normally (“Free-for-all”). This shows a rapid amount of people getting the virus, which is shown in orange, and the healthy people in blue disappear. But after the spike, and almost all of the population contracts the virus, people start to recover, and the spread slows. This could be due to deaths within the population, people obtaining immunity, or many other factors when dealing with a virus.

This next chart (“Attempted quarantine”) analyzes a population where some of the people are quarantining and some are not, but this is not a federally enforced quarantine. Some of the population is isolating themselves from most social contact. When a semi-quarantine is taking place, it delays the number of people getting the disease, but the overall recovery and spread process takes longer.

“Moderate” social distancing results are similar to attempted quarantine, with the only difference being some people stay healthy the whole time and never contract the virus. Compared to the diagrams where no prevention was in place, the virus is still affecting people for a long time, but fewer people are getting infected.

Lastly, let’s look at “Extensive Distancing,” which in this case includes the whole population keeping distance from people, but not completely isolating themselves. The six feet rule is going to be used at almost all times in this simulation. This rule would be used in all situations, and no one would have direct contact. As a result of this, less than a third of the population get sick, and the healing process is very effective. 

The diagrams above are just simulations, and real-life situations are quite different. The simulations don’t include the overall well-being of the general population and those deemed essential workers. How does quarantining and social distancing actually affect real people? These two methods take their toll on people, as they are deprived of social contact and lose their normal schedules. 

Along with the rest of the country, Collegiate students have been affected by this new reality. Izzy Whitaker (‘20) said, “Personally, I think that everyone should be social distancing in order to protect those with compromised immune systems, but at the same time it’s been really difficult having to give up time spent with my friends. I’ve been going on walks with my friends so that we can still make time to see each other, but I’ve also been spending time with my family, and luckily all of my older siblings have come home, so I have some entertainment.” 

Marshall Campbell (‘20) stated, “I think social distancing is essential for getting through this period. I also think that I would rather be quarantined for a month and have this whole thing go away, instead of social distancing for however long it takes, which is hard because the US prides itself on freedoms. So it’s difficult to take those away, compared to China.” John Ballowe (‘21) said, “I think the more everyone can practice social distancing and being smart and safe about this, we will be able to go back to normal. It isn’t fun right now, but it’s necessary. I haven’t really gone out at all and have played a lot of video games.”

This virus has taken over headlines and is now consuming our thoughts and minds. A little over two months ago, I wrote about how the coronavirus was affecting the Collegiate community by canceling the IEL Asia trip to China, but now it is keeping us from coming back together as a whole community. This time will go down in history, but for the present time being, everyone should keep their distance and try to stay healthy.

Featured image from Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.