How successful were social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic? New research points to two key factors

Medical Xpress September 27, 2022
Tanner Stening, Northeastern University

By now, it’s settled science: social distancing helps prevent the spread of highly infectious viruses, such as COVID-19. That’s why social distancing policies, along with mask-wearing, became foundational countermeasures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But not all policies were made equal, and many countries saw considerable variations in case counts despite putting relatively similar policies in place to combat the spread of the respiratory infection.

And when it comes to 10 European countries in particular, the number of close interactions a person has and how many people live in their household, on average, factored significantly into how successfully those nations were able curb the spread of disease, according to new Northeastern-led research published in Nature Computational Science.

“Although many factors are...

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