Social Distancing Urgency
During a pandemic, everyone’s responsibility is to keep themselves and the people around them safe. In order to avoid unknowingly getting themselves or others sick, people need to practice proper self-quarantine and maintain good social distancing. A large factor causing the massive COVID-19 outbreak currently ravaging the United States is the irresponsible actions of a few individuals leading to the infection of many more. This sort of behavior has to stop if we hope to slow the pandemic.
What we first have to establish is that the outbreak in the United States is much worse than what most people believe. For the last six months, the United States has been the worst hit country, with thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths per day. As of Monday, September 21, 2020, there are approximately 6.7 million total cases in the United States alone, which is around 2% of the total 300 million population, and almost 200,000 mortalities (CDC Covid Data Tracker).
One of the most important actions that people can take to slow the growth of this pandemic is to properly self-quarantine when required. The purpose of this quarantine is to keep a sick or potentially sick person isolated in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Simply because someone is not showing symptoms of COVID-19 does not mean that they are not sick or infectious. The incubation period for COVID-19 is around fourteen days, meaning that for a period of two weeks after exposure to the virus, you can be infectious without showing symptoms (Clinical Questions). During this time, an infected person may not feel sick but can still spread the virus. If you have recently returned from international travel, or have come into contact with a person confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19, your responsibility is to self-quarantine for the full two weeks in order to keep the people around you safe (When to Quarantine).
Another important step in flattening the curve and stopping the COVID-19 pandemic is maintaining proper social distancing protocol. Because of the incubation period, many sick people may be unaware of their own sickness. Due to this unpredictability of encountering sick people, it is smart to take precautions to avoid them. In order to avoid unknowingly infecting others or being unknowingly infected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which operates under the United States Department for Health and Human Services, recommends everyone to stay six feet away from other people and to wear masks at all times (When to Quarantine).
The United States is currently facing one of the worst pandemics in recent history, and resolving this issue requires the cooperation of every individual. The damage that one irresponsible person can cause on an otherwise healthy population is not to be underestimated. We must work together by understanding the situation and exercising good quarantine and social distancing practices in order to bring a quick resolution to this crisis.
References
"CDC Covid Data Tracker.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 September 2020, https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_totalcases, Accessed 13 September 2020.
"Clinical Questions About Covid-19: Questions and Answers.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4 August 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/faq.html. Accessed 13 September 2020.
"COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).” Johns Hopkins University, 21 September 2020, https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6. Accessed 21 September 2020.
"Cumulative Cases by Day Since 50th Confirmed Case.” Johns Hopkins University, 19 September 2020, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/cumulative-cases, Accessed 20 September 2020.
"Image Library.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/media/subtopic/images.htm. Accessed 21 September, 2020.
"When to Quarantine.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 September 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/quarantine.html. Accessed 13 September 2020.
