Social Distancing Alone Not Enough To Slow Spread Of Coronavirus, Says Study

Contrary to earlier claims, scientists are now saying that social distancing alone will not help in slowing the spread of coronavirus unless it is backed with contact tracing, isolation, and testing, said a study published in the journal ‘Chaos’.

“Conventional wisdom was, the more intense and long-term the social distancing, the more you will curb the disease spread,” Rajan Chakrabarty, a co-author of the study from Washington University in St. Louis in the US was quoted as saying by Firstpost.

“Had social distancing been implemented earlier, we probably would’ve done a better job,” Chakrabarty said in a PTI report.

If we rely on social distancing alone, it should be for more than two weeks. A moderate shut down, say between 50-70 percent, could be more effective than a stricter complete shut-down, said the researchers as quoted by PTI in Firstpost.