What is social distancing?
Social distancing is a public health practice that aims to prevent sick people from coming in close contact with healthy people in order to reduce opportunities for disease transmission. It can include large-scale measures like canceling group events or closing public spaces, as well as individual decisions such as avoiding crowds.
With COVID-19, the goal of social distancing right now is to slow down the outbreak in order to reduce the chance of infection among high-risk populations and to reduce the burden on health care systems and workers. Experts describe this as "flattening the curve," which generally refers to the potential success of social distancing measures to prevent surges in illness that could overwhelm health care systems.
Social distancing is a public health practice that aims to prevent sick people from coming in close contact with healthy people in order to reduce opportunities for disease transmission. Social distancing is deliberately increasing the physical space between people to avoid spreading illness by reducing groups of people and crowded spaces. Staying at least six feet away from other people reduces your chance of catching COVID-19. It can include largescale measures like canceling group events or closing public spaces, as well as individual decisions such as avoiding crowds.
With COVID-19, the goal of social distancing is to slow down the outbreak in order to reduce infection among high-risk populations and to ease the burden on health care systems and workers. Per the governor’s executive order 20-12, Oregon businesses deemed essential should implement policies and practices that emphasize the importance of social distancing and provide for at least six feet between employees and business-critical visitors while working and during break times. What is a social distancing officer? In accordance with the executive order, a social distancing officer is designated by a business or nonprofit to establish, implement, and enforce social distancing policies consistent with the Oregon Health Authority guidelines. Although the order has not established guidelines for selecting the officers, employers may want to consider the following:
The officer should have the knowledge and authority to perform the following functions:
• Develop appropriate policy content
• Communicate the importance and relevance of social distancing
• Communicate and model social distancing practices to employees and business-critical visitors
• Communicate how to practice social distancing on and off the job
• Communicate how the policy will be enforced, and be responsible for enforcement
It remains to be seen what social distancing will bring in the end and whether it will be able to counteract the Covid-19. The first observations are promising, but in order to be able to make reliable statements about the effectiveness, a few more days and a number of studies have to go into the country.
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