# Social Distancing **URL:** \ **Category:** Health\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://howtodiscuss.com/t/social-distancing/28476 "2020-11-03T22:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5
**Author:** ![Uzma\_Ali](https://howtodiscuss.com/user_avatar/howtodiscuss.com/uzma_ali/32/4177_2.png) [@Uzma\_Ali](https://howtodiscuss.com/u/Uzma_Ali)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://howtodiscuss.com/t/social-distancing/28476/5 "2020-11-07T20:59:45Z")
Social distancing also sometimes called as physical distancing is a new term introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) during COVID-19 pandemic, refers to a set of preventive measures that are non pharmaceutical in nature and are intended to minimize the spread of a contagious disease by keeping a physical distance between people reducing the number of times people come closer with each other. **Why Social Distancing?** The purpose of social distancing is to minimize the chances of people to come in contact with eachother , when the probability of an uninfected person to come into physical contact with an infected person will be reduced, transmission of disease will be suppressed lowering the death rate. Social distancing when practiced in combination with other preventive measures such as practicing good respiratory hygiene, use of face masks to cover nose and mouth in public places and hand washing help in effectively controlling the spread of infectious disease. Countrywide Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) have encouraged people to practice “social distancing” measures.Social distancing is basically a public health practice aim of which is to prevent healthy people to come in contact with sick people minimizing the chances of disease transmission. The goal of social distancing is primarily to slow down the outbreak of disease and reducing the spread of infection among high-risk populations to reduce the burden on health care systems and their workers. **How Social Distancing is practiced?** In order to slow down the spread of infectious disease like COVID 19 and to avoid overburdening healthcare settings during pandemic, several social distancing measures are practiced including the closure of schools and workplaces, isolation, quarantine, restricting the movement of people and the cancellation of mass gatherings. During lock down policies in big cities social distancing measures are taken on large scale like canceling group events or closing of public places and avoiding crowds. Individual measures like washing hands every time you enter from outdoors to indoors, before eating, and before spending time with people those are more vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19, including older people or those with chronic medical conditions is also advised. A number of actions have been taken on lager that are designed to encourage social distancing, some of them are listed below: 1. Academic institutions including schools, colleges, and universities suspend in-person classes and convert to online instruction methods. 2. Big cities cancel all events of public gatherings, including sports events, festivals, and parades 3. Offices, workshops and industrial set ups encourage flexible working options and relying on telecommuting wherever possible 4. Organizations and institutes cancel large gatherings including seminars and conferences 5. Religious gatherings are reduced and restricted and preventive measures are practiced **Effectiveness of social distancing** These preventive measures are very important for the safety of common people and to carry out their usual life activities during pandemic. A study published by British Medical Journal(BJM) in July 2020 reported an average of 13% reduction in COVID-19 incidence after the implementation of social distancing policies the data collected from 149 countries. Although social distancing has provided people an opportunity to live a peaceful life with family living comfortably in their homes but the social and communication difficulties have also spread depression and anxiety among some people. The COVID 19 pandemic has indeed made a great impact upon our lives. [https://smallseotools.com/view-report/0eb513f65d80468825d0ea0147dc48ee](https://smallseotools.com/view-report/0eb513f65d80468825d0ea0147dc48ee) --- _[View the full topic](https://howtodiscuss.com/t/social-distancing/28476)._