Thread by @DearPandemic

(1/11)
Q: What might socializing look like when #ShelterInPlace orders are lifted?

A: #SocialDistancing will remain important when shelter-in-place orders are lifted. More about what to expect in this thread

(2/11)
For many regions, the elements needed to reopen society have not yet been achieved:
📉declining rates of infection,
🧪adequate testing supply, and
👥the ability to trace the contacts of new infections to appropriately isolate and treat.

(3/11)
When shelter-in-place orders are lifted, restructuring social networks is one approach to minimizing the spread of infection.

(4/11)
A #socialnetwork includes all the people you come in contact with during daily activities. Think about housemates, co-workers, friends, and extended family. Expanding social networks outside households could be challenging as many social networks (and their germs) overlap.

(5/11)
Scientists are studying a variety of approaches that would allow us to expand social contact by making it more difficult for pods or bubbles to connect.
Some examples of these new approaches, and why they can be useful, are detailed in the next few posts in this thread

(6/11)
🌐Geographic constraints – Geographic constraints would liberalize contacts within a defined area like a neighborhood but would decrease the ability of a virus to travel to the next geographic area.

(7/11)
👨‍👩‍👦‍👦Repeat contacts – Interacting with the same group of people repeatedly, like co-workers or family members, decreases the number of encounters with other social networks.

(8/11)
👯‍♀️Similar contacts – Individuals with similar profiles, like individuals who live alone or families with small children, joining pods or bubbles to reduce isolation while limiting contact with other networks.

(9/11)
It’s exciting to consider seeing friends and family again, but expanding social networks has many hurdles.
First, they are difficult to apply broadly to real social networks of mothers, grandchildren, best friends, and co-workers.

(10/11)
Second, the risk for infection within expanded pods remains. One infection could spread quickly through a pod.

Third, and perhaps most important, the pods RELY ON TRUST. Expansion of pods requires all members to follow the same rules of exclusivity.

(11/11)
More to come on this important topic. One of our very own #nerdygirls is an author on the study referenced in this @CNN CNN article!
edition.cnn.com/2020/04/29/hea…
#coronavirus #COVID__19 #Covid_19 #TestAndTrace