Social distance is a tool that helps prevent further expansion of COVID-19

Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center responded that the implementation of social distance policies responded to a significant reduction in SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission and reduced community mobility in both the United States and the world. Provided evidence of social distance, a tool that helps prevent further spread of COVID-19.

Research announced today PLOS ONE, Nationally-established social distance policies in 46 countries have prevented an estimated 1.57 million COVID-19s in two weeks, an estimated 65% reduction in the new case. Researchers suggest that these data highlight important benefits that can be achieved by individuals practicing social distance measurement.

“At MD Anderson, we are focused on caring for cancer patients, and we know that patients are extremely vulnerable to COVID-19,” said Senior Author, Professor, Cancer Biology. Said Dr. Raghu Kalluri.

“Therefore, we felt it was important to have a fair analysis of safety measures that could benefit not only patients but society as a whole. It has become clear that this could have a significant impact on the rate.”

Impact of US social distance policy

To determine the effectiveness of the US social distance policy, researchers analyzed COVID-19 in each of the 50 states. Recognizing that many factors contribute to the spread of the disease, they analyzed new cases before and after the state enacted social distance policies.

The three states did not implement such policies and provided comparison opportunities. These were analyzed over a similar period compared to other states.

We have found that the states have observed a significant decrease in transmission rate after implementation of the social separation policy, as compared to states without such policies. In fact, the smallest two declines in spreads were seen in policy-free states at social distances. “

Dr. Daniel McGrail, Principal Investigator, Postdoctoral Researcher, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Systems Biology, University of Texas

Forty-seven states with social distance policies have significantly higher average mobility for communities compared to states that do not have policies that measure resident mobility at homes, workplaces, retail stores, and elsewhere It has decreased. In countries without social distance policies, mobility declines were also seen, but the changes were significantly smaller than those with distance policies.

Impact of global social distance policy

Recognizing that the US analysis is limited by a small number of states without a social distance policy, the researchers analyzed the impact of social distance policy globally. They can obtain sufficient data from 46 countries implementing national social distance policies, 74 countries not implementing such policies, and 14 countries implementing regional policies. It was

In a similar analysis, the data showed that after implementing a country’s social distance policy, there was a significant reduction in communication compared to countries with corresponding time frames in regional or non-policy countries. Is shown. No significant difference was found between countries with regional policies and those with no social distance.

Countries with socially distant policies significantly reduced community mobility compared to those without policies, and countries with national policies were significantly less than those with regional policies. There was a strong correlation between reduced viral mobility and reduced transmission, underscoring the importance of individuals at social distances to effectively prevent viral transmission.

“This is clear evidence that social distance measures can have a significant overall impact on reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and we control the spread of infection in individuals. We encourage people to practice social distance in order to do so,” Karli said. “We believe these data provide useful evidence to public health authorities and policy makers when considering future measures to reduce the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community.”

The authors acknowledge that the study was limited to direct COVID-19 testing reliance and may underestimate the prevalence. The researchers also looked at the diffusion rate after implementation of the social distance policy as an internal control of many additional factors that could contribute to the diffusion rate.

For analysis, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Sciences and Engineering collected daily case and population data from the COVID-19 data repository. Information about social distance policies was taken from the Aura Vision Global COVID-19 Lockdown Tracker and mobility data was taken from the Google Mobility Report. All data from the study were collected on June 5, 2020.