The Coronavirus Dictionary: Social Distancing, Flatten The Curve

What does this new coronavirus lingo even mean? Americans are going about life in new and unexpected ways with the community spread of the new coronavirus and COVID-19, the illness it causes. And it's expanding our vocabularies as well, or confusing us with what exactly all these new terms look like in practice.

“Social distancing” is the phrase of the week. It’s a broad term, encompassing everything from the cancellation or delay of big events to limiting social gatherings to 10 or fewer people to maintaining physical distances of 6 feet or more to avoiding bars and restaurants to just staying home for at least the next couple of weeks. It can also mean eschewing handshakes and going online to work, attend classes or visit with friends and family.

Public health officials believe these and other measures, including the closure of public schools and limiting visits to patients in hospital and nursing homes, will slow the spread of coronavirus and increase the likelihood the health care delivery system will have the doctors and nurses, hospital beds and supplies needed to care for people who need treatment or hospitalization.

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The aim of the strategy is to “flatten the curve.” Without social distancing and other measures, officials say the health care system will likely be overwhelmed by a large number of people becoming very sick over a few days.

A graphic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adapted below by Dr. Drew Harris, a population health analyst at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, shows the effect on the health care system both with and without proactive measures.

The height of the curve represents the number of potential cases, and the horizontal X axis shows time. The line across the middle shows how too many cases in a short amount of time can overwhelm the health care delivery system.

Though widely anticipated, the World Health Organization’s declaration last week that the COVID-19 outbreak is a “pandemic” created some confusion. It refers to the scope of the new coronavirus, but not its severity; pandemic means the “worldwide spread of a new disease."

A fair amount of confusion also exists surrounding the differences between different types of isolation, self-monitoring and quarantine.

See Also

Numbers: Latest U.S. Confirmed Cases And Deaths

People who are sick with a contagious disease are placed in “isolation,” away from people who aren’t sick. When people “self-isolate,” they separate themselves from others — including, to the extent possible — from those in their own households — for the purpose of preventing the spread of the virus.

“Self-monitoring” includes regularly checking temperature and watching for the symptoms of coronavirus, which are similar to other respiratory illnesses with fevers and coughs, but also shortness of breath, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This is a prudent course for anyone who may have attended the same gathering as someone who tested positive for the virus, but with whom there was no close contact, according to Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

"But if you had a long conversation [with that person] or that person coughed or sneezed on you, that's different," Plescia told NPR, adding that in that case, a 14-day “self-quarantine” — long enough for symptoms to develop — is appropriate.

A “quarantine” separates and restricts the movement of people exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. Although cruise ship passengers were ordered quarantined by health officials, most US.. coronavirus quarantines are “voluntary quarantines” or “self-quarantines.”

The two terms mean the same thing. The voluntary or self-quarantines last about 14 days, and they’re more easily accomplished by people who live alone. But those in self-quarantine in a shared household should try to stay in their bedrooms or alone in a guest room, with their own toilet and shower if possible, and out of common areas in the house.

Although both state and federal governments have the power, there haven’t been any quarantines of of entire towns in the United States since 1918-19 “Spanish flu” outbreak. The closest to that any community has come is in New Rochelle, New York, where a “containment zone” has been implemented.

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