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 favouring 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 down 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. 

Why Social Distancing is important?

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. 

How to practice Social Distancing? 

1. Stay home as much as possible

• Work from home if you can
• Exercise at home or outside
• Use food delivery services or online shopping

2. 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

3. Use technology to keep in touch with family, friends and co-workers

• Use programs like Skype, Zoom and FaceTime to connect
• Conduct virtual meetings
• Host virtual playdates for your kids

4. 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

Service organizations that cannot shift all employees to work from home during the corona virus pandemic need social distancing measures for on-site employees.  Changes in workplace processes and design will help provide the social distancing they need to stay safe.

Some Tips of Social Distancing:

Be mindful of these simple tips when you’re at work.

1.  Physically distance in the work environment, remaining at least 6 feet apart at all times.

2.  Avoid face-to-face in-person meetings, even if just one-on-one.

3.  Stagger breaks and meal times.

4.  Don’t congregate in break rooms, work rooms or other common areas.

5.  Do not share headsets or other objects that are near your mouth or nose.

6.  Facilities and custodial services are cleaning high traffic areas regularly, but do take precautions to wipe down areas where you’ve been.

7.  Always wash your hands before and after entering a shared workspace or break room.

8.  Remember to follow CDC guidance on hygiene, such as hand-washing and coughing into your elbow.

Some Precautions for social distancing at work are:

Social customs

• Implement a no-visitor policy: Allow only authorized employees into the office during this time.
• Greet without physical contact: Encourage employees to avoid handshakes and hugs while greeting and interacting with colleagues.
• Increase awareness around the six-foot rul: Encourage employees to maintain six feet or two meters (two- to three-arm’s length) from other employees when possible.

Scheduling shifts

• Flexible work hours or rotational shifts: Allow flexible work hours or reduce work hours so that fewer employees are on location at any given time.
• Staggered shifts: Implement staggered shifts if the work demands a certain number of customer service reps (CSRs) be on-site for handling complex customer issues or for other critical tasks. Allot alternate desks to CSRs in the staggered shifts to create time between shifts to thoroughly sanitize workstations.

Workplace design

• Insert partitions to raise cubicle wall heights: If there are low or no cubicle walls, add or supplement dividers to create a higher physical barrier between agents to reduce the spread of infectious droplets due to a sneeze or cough.
• Revisit and revise seating arrangements: Ensure that CSRs aren’t sitting too close to each other. If you have close or congested open workplaces, allow CSRs to use alternate desks and implement rotational remote work where possible.

Collaboration

• Pooling tasks: If multiple roles perform similar tasks that must be performed on-site, consider pooling and rotating those tasks so some employees can work remotely while one person takes on-site responsibility. Combine pooling with flexible hours to further increase social distancing and reduce the risk of an employee becoming ill.
• Virtual meetings: Ensure that employees can shift in-person meetings to virtual meetings or emails whenever possible. You may need to provide them with laptops or other devices, but also provide support on their virtual set-up and online collaboration tools so they get comfortable using the systems and software.

Digital technology has perhaps never been more evident than in this moment of widespread social distancing measures. In earlier world social distancing meant isolation but today’s technology is changing work. From work, education, and errands to leisure and socializing, technology is making social distancing easy. Technology will endure to achieve the same degree of physical separation. Now digital technology is used to help people stay connected and keep society running smoothly this pandemic. Virtual gathering, enabled by digital platforms like Zoom, Google Hangout, Facebook Live, FaceTime and others, are helping socially distanced people across the world to engage with one another and socialize. 

There are various technology products which are helping people to maintain social distancing of certain distance at work or another place. Safespace is one of them. 

Safepace is great safety technology product of Adstuck which is a digital marketing practice marketing campaign agency working from all over the world with four locations India, Singapore, Estonia and US. Its mission is to provide instant access to a talented workforce to enterprise.

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 non-bulky, wearable technology that 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 are:

• 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 user’s 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
•  Emergency Management: A dedicated team to handle emergency.

For more Details:

Websites- www.adstuck.com 

Contact no:- 919654677057