Contrary to earlier claims, scientists are now saying that social distancing alone will no
t 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.