The Science Behind Why We Are Keeping Our Distance
Hello from my room! I hope you are all keeping well and well-away from other people by practicing social distancing. As key workers are out keeping our countries running during these hard times, our instruction has been plain and simple: stay at home. And although it might not feel like much (literally, like you are just sitting on the couch binging every series on Netflix), you staying home is actually saving lives. And here is the science to prove it!
What is the difference between social distancing & self-isolation?
The phrase of 2020 thus far must be ‘social distancing’ – it is on the news, in the press and even popping up on instagram ads. Social distancing means you should avoid any unnecessary contact with individuals outside your household and keep a physical distance in between yourself and others when out and about. The measures have become stricter and tighter during the coronavirus pandemic; evolving from ‘try to keep to yourself and work from home if you can’ to ‘do not come into contact with anyone unless you live with them & avoid leaving your home unless absolutely essential’. Although this may seem like a total cut off from the rest of humanity, it isn’t quite self-isolation. Self-isolation is when you shouldn’t come into contact with anybody – even in your household – and not leave the house at all. Self-isolation is having to be practiced by those showing physical symptoms of COVID-19 or by those extremely at-risk individuals who have a great chance of contracting severe illness from coronavirus due to underlying health conditions. Therefore, self-isolation is only practiced by certain people whereas social distancing should be practiced by all.
How does staying in the house save lives?
You may have heard medical doctors, scientists and government officials all preaching that staying home saves lives. It might seems a bit strange that you sorting out your bursting wardrobe is a heroic action, but you really are aiding the communal effort of fighting this virus by deciding if you want to keep that faded shirt from Summer 2011. The scientific reason for this is you staying away from others physically stops the spread of the coronavirus. The coronavirus (called SARS-CoV-2) which is currently causing severe illness in swathes of people is actually a non-live particle which requires a host (aka you or me) to survive and replicate. A viruses main goal is to create as many copies of itself as possible and to do that, it needs the machinery found inside your cells used to make your healthy, essential proteins. If you are keeping inside and maintaining a 2 metre distance when you pop out to buy your essentials, the virus has a very low chance of making you its new host.
Why do we need to keep our distance?
Where did the measurement of 2 metres come from for the gaps we should be maintaining when we are outside? Those long queues outside the supermarket are not for fun, but again, to protect you from catching or spreading the virus to other new ‘hosts’. The World Health Organisation believes the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus is mediated by respiratory droplets – small liquid beads released from your mouth or nose when you cough and sneeze, respectively. Droplets contain liquid making them heavy so fall to the ground within 1-2 metres of the person releasing them. With SARS-CoV-2 droplets, it is still unclear exactly how large these droplets are, but maintaining at least 2 metres from those who you do not live which should be enough to prevent direct droplet transmission (plus those coughing/sneezing should be in self-isolation anyway!). As these droplets fall to the ground, the biggest risk of your picking up the virus is contacting a contaminated surface and then ’self-inoculating’ by touching your eyes, nose or mouth with the contaminated hand. This is why you should wash your hands thoroughly after every trip outside and give any newly purchased packages a wipe with anti-bacterial spray.
How long will we have to practice social distancing?
This is a very tough question to give an accurate answer for right now but we just have to take the situation as it comes each day. The best weapon we currently have against this virus is to prevent its transmission by keeping distant. Matching this with testing who has or who has had the virus would allow us to isolate those who are infected and permit those who are ‘immune’ back into society (although it is unclear how long the immunity for SARS-CoV-2 lasts). The real game changer will come once we have a vaccine or a viable drug treatment, and this is when our lives should regain some normality. Vaccinating large proportions of the population against SARS-CoV-2 creates a ‘Herd Immunity’ – meaning those who are not vaccinated have less chance as getting the disease as the virus cannot easily jump from one person to the next. Vaccines act like a mini infection but without the illness you would get from the actual virus. This mock transmission allows your body to create antibodies (your personal warriors) against the specific structure of that virus, meaning if you were infected with the actual virus, you body would recognise it as ‘danger’ and quickly make lots of antibodies to fight it from the blue print it has stored due to the vaccination. Therefore, having a vaccine against this coronavirus should effectively squash its spread and reduce the appearance of COVID-19.
Signing off
Staying inside can be overwhelming, claustrophobic and pretty hard when we are used to having the freedom to roam as we please. But for now, us all collectively shutting our doors to the outside world and staying at home is what is going to make a huge difference in the spread of this virus. However, please do not isolate yourself when social distancing. Use this time to connect with friends you haven’t seen in a while over video chat, learn a new skill or read that book you have wanted to start for years but never had the time. We are all in this together and need to lean on each other virtually to make sure our mental health is just as intact as our physical health when this is all over.
Brain Hugs,
Julia xoxox (@Julia.ravey.science)
