Does Social Distancing Work? The Effect of Social Distancing on COVID-19
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Authors
Morris, Kayla
Romero, Anna
Date of Issue
2020-04-29
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Subject Keywords
Other Titles
Abstract
COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it. One way the world is responding to this pandemic is social distancing. Social distancing is used to slow the spread of the disease, as the SARS-CoV-2 virus is primarily spread by droplets. The idea is that if people aren’t close enough to one another for droplet transmission to occur, the spread of the disease will be slowed. While most that understand the concept support social distancing, those that do not understand strongly oppose it. This research aims at answering if social distancing is effective. The total confirmed cases of COVID-19 were tracked daily for nine states. The rate adjusted increase in cases from the start of each state’s stay at home order until April 29th were used in a statistical analysis. The results of the analysis support the hypothesis that social distancing is an effective way to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Social distancing, Flatten the curve, Coronavirus