5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SOCIAL DISTANCING

Can my kids go on a play date? Is it OK if I go to a restaurant? In this time of coronavirus, once-easy questions have suddenly become complex.

Here are some questions and answers about the “social distancing” efforts to slow the epidemic in the U.S.

1. What is social distancing?

Social distancing is practices implemented by public health officials to keep contagious diseases from spreading.

The measures are aimed at trying to cut down the amount of virus spreading around, and ultimately protect those most vulnerable, including the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

2. What measures have been taken?

Governments have closed borders, and millions of workers and students have been ordered to stay home. On Monday, U.S. officials recommended that older people and those with underlying health conditions “stay home and away from other people.” The U.S. is also telling people not to gather in large groups.

And experts also recommend people try to stay at least 6 feet (about 2 meters) away from each other.

3. Why 6 feet?

Experts believe the virus is mainly spread through droplets that come out of your mouth and nose. When an infected person speaks or exhales or coughs or sneezes, the droplets travel about 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) before gravity pulls them to the ground.

“They fall pretty quickly,” said Dr. Jill Weatherhead, an infectious disease expert at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

It’s important to try to block coughs or sneezes with a tissue or your sleeve, so as not to send those droplet flying directly toward someone nearby.

4. Where can we go?

Options are becoming limited, with school, gym and restaurant closures in some places, and work-from-home edicts.

If you live someplace without such restrictions, it’s best just to use good judgment. If restaurants are open, it’s OK to go to eat. But go in a small group and try to get a table away from others.

It’s necessary to buy food. But try to go to the supermarket at times when it’s less crowded, stay 6 feet away from other shoppers as much as you can, and wash your hands thoroughly when you get home.

Weatherhead says play dates for kids are not recommended. Children generally have had more mild COVID-19 illnesses and therefore might spread the disease before anyone realizes they are sick.

5. What about social gatherings?

The CDC on Sunday recommended that for the next eight weeks, organizers put off events that would draw at least 50 people. On Monday, the number was reduced to 10.

That could ice a lot of weddings, family reunions and birthday parties.

Dr. Deborah Birx, who is coordinating the federal response to the virus, said the change from 50 to 10 was influenced by research that tried to estimate the impact of different possible steps.

A CDC official, Dr. Jay Butler, said Monday there’s no hardand-fast rule. Officials are simply trying to set a reasonable parameter to “increase social distancing while not creating social isolation,” he said in an interview streamed by the Journal of the American Medical Association.