Study backs bubble strategy for preventing spread
Newfoundland and Labrador’s chief medical officer of health got a little boost for her health measures Friday courtesy of a new joint study published in the journal Nature.
Specifically, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald brought in a “double bubble” measure last month whereby two households could join together as an exclusive, close-knit group. The rules were expanded again last week such that up to six more individuals could join those double bubbles.
Fitzgerald wasn’t the first to embrace the idea. It has been adopted in other provinces across Canada.
The Nature study out of Europe examined the potential spread of COVID19 under several so-called social network-based distancing strategies.
The models used varied from complete random contact between strangers, to what they called the repetition strategy that has small groups of people making contact only within their own circle. The latter is what we colloquially call bubbles.
“Although this (strategy) requires co-ordination, it would be difficult for a virus to penetrate micro-communities and — importantly — if the infection were to be contracted by one contact, it would be difficult for the virus to spread much further,” the authors wrote.
Other reduction strategies, including one that saw people of similar social backgrounds intermingling, were less effective.
“I haven’t seen that study yet, but I’m glad to hear that some of what we’ve been doing has been borne out in those studies,” Fitzgerald said Friday, adding that the approach made sense intuitively.
“I think everybody realizes the importance of keeping your close contacts as small as possible and to keep them as consistent as possible, and everyone within that bubble following the same rules.”