Lewtak Katarzyna, Nitsch-Osuch Aneta
Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Medical University of Warsaw, Faculty of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland.
Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2021 Feb 24;49(289):71-79.
COVID-19 pandemic challenged both public health specialists and authorities to implement non-pharmaceutical interventions aimed at limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The concept of social distancing is about limiting contacts between people, which breaks virus transmission chains, delays the increase in the number of infected people in the population and prevents overloading of health care systems. Many countries, including Poland, implemented a number of interventions aimed at limiting the number of infections and slowing down the tempo of the pandemic's spread. These are, among others, mass-scale testing, isolation of infected individuals, hand hygiene, breath etiquette and wearing mascs. Apart from these, a number of restrictions were enforced to ensure social distancing, such as closing down schools and universities, forbidding organising large parties and mass gatherings, limiting travels and use of public transport, increasing awareness of the public opinion on the necessity to stay at home, up to even introducing full lockdown with only the right to go out to buy food and medication or use the health care system. These interventions were gradually introduced in particular countries, in different ways, to a greater or lesser extent. Their effectiveness is largely influenced by the socio-economic and cultural factors, the nature of political and healthcare systems as well as the operating procedures used during their implementation. The implemented social distancing strategies prove to be effective, especially when combined with such actions as mass-scale testing, tracking contact chains, isolation and quarantine. The current work aims at making an overview of selected social distancing strategies and assessing their effectiveness in slowing down COVID-19 epidemic.
新冠疫情对公共卫生专家和当局都构成了挑战，促使他们实施旨在限制严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）感染传播的非药物干预措施。社交距离的概念是限制人与人之间的接触，这会打破病毒传播链，延缓人群中感染人数的增加，并防止医疗系统不堪重负。包括波兰在内的许多国家实施了一系列旨在限制感染数量和减缓疫情传播速度的干预措施。其中包括大规模检测、隔离感染者、手部卫生、呼吸礼仪和佩戴口罩。除此之外，还实施了一些限制措施以确保社交距离，例如关闭中小学和大学、禁止组织大型派对和群众集会、限制出行和公共交通的使用、提高公众对居家必要性的认识，甚至实施全面封锁，只允许外出购买食品和药品或使用医疗系统。这些干预措施在不同国家以不同方式、不同程度逐步推行。其有效性在很大程度上受到社会经济和文化因素、政治和医疗系统的性质以及实施过程中所采用的操作程序的影响。事实证明，所实施的社交距离策略是有效的，尤其是与大规模检测、追踪接触链、隔离和检疫等行动相结合时。当前的工作旨在概述选定的社交距离策略，并评估其在减缓新冠疫情方面的有效性。
