Social distancing is a non-pharmaceutical infection prevention and control intervention implemented to avoid/decrease contact between those who are infected with a disease causing pathogen and those who are not, so as to stop or slow down the rate and extent of disease transmission in a community. This eventually leads to decrease in spread, morbidity and mortality due to the disease.
In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disease by maintaining a physical distance between people and reducing the number of times people come into close contact with each other. It typically involves keeping a certain distance from others (the distance specified may differ from time to time and country to country) and avoiding gathering together in large groups. By reducing the probability that a given uninfected person will come into physical contact with an infected person, the disease transmission can be suppressed, resulting in fewer deaths. The measures are used in combination with good respiratory hygiene and hand washing by a population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested favoring the term “physical distancing” as opposed to “social distancing”, in keeping with the fact that it is a physical distance which prevents transmission; people can remain socially connected via technology. To slow down the spread of infectious diseases and avoid overburdening healthcare systems, particularly during a pandemic, several social-distancing measures are used, including the closing of schools and workplaces, isolation, quarantine, restricting the movement of people and the cancellation of mass gatherings
Social distancing is maintained to stop the spread of virus and infections. You should avoid close contact with anyone you do not live with. That is called social distancing. It means avoiding crowded, public places where close contact with others is likely. It leads to cancelling events and gathering of more than 10 people and closing shops, restaurants and bars. It is essential way to slow dowm the spread of virus among each other. It is important that you follow social distancing recommendations in your community, weather you’re in one of the high-risk group or not.
Social distancing is important because:
- It helps slow down the spread of the virus from asymptomatic people and people who do not known that they have contracted it.
- It is the only way to break chain of contagion
- It protects you from getting the virus and becoming sick. The impact of social distancing is greater than personal safety alone. It protects your loved ones.
- It is a proven means of reducing deaths in a pandemic
- It reduces the basic reproduction number, known as the “R naught”. The R naught represents the average number of people who can be infected by one person, and it can increase and decrease depending on the rate of spread.
- If everyone does their part and practices social (physical) distancing to slow the rate of COVID-19 spread, it will give hospitals a fighting chance to continue to have room, necessary supplies and health care providers for all patients who need care.
Here is how you can practice social (physical) distancing
- Stay home as much as possible
- Work from home if you can
- Exercise at home or outside
- Use food delivery services or online shopping
- Limit your trips out of the house
- Go outside for essential trips only such as groceries, work and exercise
- Keep a distance of 2 metres (6 feet) from others
- Greet others with a wave, a bow or a nod (in place of handshakes or hugs)
- Sanitize or wash your hands when entering and exiting buildings
- No more than three people per elevator and use an elbow to press buttons if you can
- Avoid long lineups and maintain space between others in line
- Use tap to pay rather than handling money
- If taking public transit, avoid prolonged close contact with others:
- Travel during non-peak hours
- Take shorter trips rather than one long trip
- Use technology to keep in touch with family, friends and coworkers
- Use programs like Skype, Zoom and FaceTime to connect
- Conduct virtual meetings
- Host virtual playdates for your kids
- Keep up with everyday hygiene actions
- Wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth
- Cough or sneeze into the bend of your arm (elbow)
- Regularly clean high-touch surfaces in your home
Augmented reality is the technology that expands our physical world, adding layers of digital information onto it. AR appears in direct view of an existing environment and adds sounds, videos, and graphics to it. It is a technology of combining real world image, video, etc. With computer generated information and imagery. The term augmented reality was coined in the early nineties by Thomas Caudell. The verb augment refers to the action of adding to something in order to make it more substantial. It is an interactive experience of a real world environment where the object that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, hepatic, somatosensory and olfactory. It can be defined as a system that fulfils three basics features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects. It is a view of the real, physical world in which users find elements enhanced by computer-generated input. Designer create inputs ranging from sound to video, to graphics to GPS overlays and more, in digital content that responds in real time to changes in the user’s environment, usually movement.
Augmented tools make things a little easier. Phone will use augmented reality to keep the space around you, superimposing a two-meter radius circle in the view from your camera which helps in social distancing efficiently. AR is used to measures safe social distancing.
Some Apps that helps in Social Distancing are:
- 1point5: There’s an appcalled 1point5 made by the United Nations, which notifies users when someone enters their 1.5 metres radius. The app is available on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Developed by the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs (UNTIL), 1point5 app helps you maintain social distancing. The app scans for nearby mobile devices via Bluetooth and warns users when a device enters the 1.5-meter perimeter. 1point5 app tracks Bluetooth signal of nearby devices and alerts you when a device enters your minimum distance mark. Others do not need to have the app installed but their Bluetooth needs to be turned on or else the app will not pick up the presence of that person.
- Sodar: Sodar app has now enabled all the smartphone users to have a new way to let themselves know if a person is closer than the stated distance from one another. This tool is available from this week and uses Android smartphone cameras to put the users of the application in the centre of a circle which as a radius of about two meters, or 6.5 feet. If any nearby person comes inside the circumference of the circle, the user gets notified. The interface is simple and is similar to the smartphone game PokemonGo which uses the perimeter augmented reality technology. If you’ve got an Android device, just open up the Chrome browser and go to gle/sodar to launch the tool, named SODAR.
- MyShield app: It is another app through which users can practice social distancing. The app has been developed by UNDYE and it helps users maintain a distance of 1 to 2 meters. As soon as any users get closer to each other, this app notifies the user that they have broken the social distance. This way it helps in tracking social distancing among employees at the organisation level as well. MyShield app uses technology BLE-based 1+ meter safety circle to ensure social distancing through mobile phones. In case of breach of the safety circle, all concerned are alerted and reminded to recede back into the safety circle.
- mContain app: mContain is a free mobile app to help track social distancing during a virus outbreak. It Uses smartphone technology to detect proximity encounters (within 6 feet for several minutes) with other app users, displays the number of daily proximity encounters and crowding, and can notify other users about possible exposures to COVID-19 individuals. It Reduces the chance of community transmission by providing social crowding information and sending an early warning to users who may be at risk of infection. The mContain app is also currently available only for Android users. It will soon be launched for iOS users. This app uses Bluetooth to notify users to maintain social distancing. Apart from this, the Daily Proximity Encounter is displayed on this app, which lets the user know how many people have been close to him every day.
SafeSpace is a unique social distancing tool that can be worn on the wrist or clipped to a belt and provides an intelligent, proactive social distancing solution, that will help us to get ‘boots back on the ground’ whilst keeping the workforce safe. It does this by providing real-time audible, visual and vibrating alerts when a device identifies another within 2 metres of itself.
It is a unique social distancing tool that can be worn on the wrist or clipped to a belt and provides real-time audible, visual and vibrating alerts when a device identifies another similar device within 2 metres of itself.
The non-bulky, wearable technology can last for more than 12 hours on a single charge, and will help to create a culture of spatial awareness and drive positive behavioural change, protecting employees and helping them to follow government protocols. SafeSpace enables contractors to guarantee the safety and welfare of their workforce, while at the same time ramping up delivery to meet the challenging opportunities being presented in highway maintenance and construction.
Safespace is a Safety technology service provider. It is a location safety system for urban transport. It is a safety system that qualifies, secures and monitors travellers for zero contagion during travel and beyond. During a pandemic situation verifying and qualifying passengers, keeping them separate during all time and securing zones for correct occupancy ratio, queue management I is only way to bring back the world order of community and Safespace helps in this process efficiently.
Products of Safespace is Counter system which limit the entry in a space QADAM sensor, Cono wearable is a system who alerts, distance monitors using their quick sensors, smart monitors servers which monitor access and monitors movements, ML Omnicloud is a core brain which applies all the algorithms and workflows, Corerock admin platform is the place that add metros, buses, timing and others, Cono users app known as security centre to keep and feel secures and becoming a quick qualified visitors/traveller.
Safespace provides services for standard and customized application and projects. It is a technology which has IOE: the core sensors which collect all the data and alerts, Pervasive computing: Making access, qualifying and sanitization on auto mode, Integration platform: Add your existing systems in a whisker, AR & Machine Learning: The augmented systems to model space and collect probabilistic data from visual, Cloud Backend: All automations can be pushed on the fly from distance, and Emergency Management: A dedicated team to handle emergency.
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Websites- www.adstuck.com