TENNESSEE CITY, Tenn. — You've heard the term social distancing over and over again during the coronavirus pandemic, but what does the effect of proper protocols look like?
The CDC defines social distancing as staying out of large groups of people and being at least six feet apart from others. The organization advises it helps slow the spread of the virus.
The more people who choose to follow through with these measures, the better.
What does social distancing look like in real life? It can be practiced in a variety of ways: staying six feet apart from others, working from home and limiting exposure to people.
The decisions of one person greatly affect a long line of others— creating a ripple effect.
One person who chooses to leave the house and not practice social distancing can infect three or more other people.
But here's the thing— that person that just created a chain reaction— and they may have no idea they had the virus when they went out in public. They may not have shown symptoms, so they thought it was okay.
But now, those three infected people are going to each infect three more people and so on and so forth. The web continues to grow.
That's how a pandemic starts. When a disease spreads quickly from person to person across the globe, like COVID-19.
The good news? We can help stop the spread.
If one person decides to stay home instead of attending a party, or someone orders delivery to their houses instead of going out, or people work from home instead of going to the office, it creates another chain reaction, but in reverse. Less people will be infected because there's less human interaction.
That's where the term flattening the curve comes into play. The more people who stay home and stay six feet apart are helping cases go down.
It all starts with one person.