| abstract
| - Social distancing encompasses non-pharmaceutical measures for controlling the transmission of infectious disease through reduction in the frequency of physical contact between individuals.Large-scale methods of social distancing include:
* Closing schools, child care and elder care centers
* Closing workplaces
* Telecommuting, videoconferencing and telephone conferencing
* Cancelling public gatherings
* Closing public recreational facilities
* Limiting mass transit
* Implementing community-wide quarantine or "stay at home" days
* Public education on hygiene and cough etiquette. Small-scale methods of social distancing include:
* Maintaining three feet of space between oneself and others
* Avoiding shaking hands, hugging or kissing
* Avoiding crowded, enclosed spaces such as grocery and department stores, movie theatres, gas stations, schools, and sporting events
* Limiting shopping trips to once a week
* Using N95 style respirator masks
* Washing hands after touching items touched, breathed upon or coughed upon by others
* Assigning a single caretaker to a sick person
* Household quarantine
* Avoiding smoking and smokers
* Paying for gasoline at the pump rather than at the counter.
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