Differences Between Quarantine, Social Distancing And Isolation
With the arrival of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and, during these days (March 2020), we hear these three terms very frequently: quarantine, social distancing and isolation. What does each term mean? These are three very similar concepts, but they harbor certain differences.
What differences between quarantine, social distancing and isolation can we find? In this article we talk about the four most important ones, although, through the initial definitions that we bring you of each concept, we will be able to better understand what these are.
Before explaining the differences between quarantine, social distancing and isolation, let’s see what each concept means. These are three medical measures used to prevent the contagion or spread of a certain disease, usually infectious, in the population.
They are measures widely used in the face of pandemics, such as the current coronavirus (which, in this case, have already been put into practice in most countries to fight the disease).
1. Quarantine
Quarantine is a concept in medicine, which is used to designate the isolation of people (in their homes), for a non-specific time, as a result of an illness. The objective of quarantine is to reduce, avoid or eliminate the risk of the disease spreading. That is, the aim is to avoid contagion and stop its spread.
This action is used to separate and restrict the movement of healthy people, or healthy people who may have been exposed to infected people The quarantine, in the case of the coronavirus, by protocol lasts 14 days.
Furthermore, also in the case of coronavirus, it is estimated that once infected by it, it takes us between 5 and 14 days, at most, to manifest symptoms. Therefore, once the quarantine has passed, it can be seen whether the person has shown symptoms or not (although there are infected people who never show symptoms).
In a state of quarantine, the population cannot go out on the streets (only in exceptional cases) In Spain, quarantine means only being able to leave the house to work (with authorization), to shop, to take pets for a walk, to accompany elderly or minor people, to throw out the trash, etc. If you fail to comply with these rules, you may receive a fine or even be arrested.
2. Social distancing
For its part, social distancing encompasses all those infection control measures, which have the objective of stopping (or slowing down) the spread of a contagious disease.
For practical purposes, social distancing means not being able to be very close to the people we meet or with whom we are (about two meters apart), and avoid being in large groups (in Spain, for example, quarantine implies social distancing in supermarket queues, and also the impossibility of going out on the street accompanied, unless it is a minor, a person with a disability or an elderly person).
3. Isolation
Insulation is used to separate people who already suffer from the contagious disease in question from healthy people to prevent the first from infecting the rest, thus reducing the risk of spreading the disease.
This action is used by hospitals and different medical centers, with the necessary medical control. In practical terms it would be the same as quarantine, but in this case, it is used only on people who are already sick.
4 Differences between quarantine, social distancing and isolation
Now that we will develop the main differences between quarantine, social distancing and isolation, we will understand this and the other concepts or measures a little better.
As we see, the three explained phenomena, quarantine, social distancing and social isolation, They have the same objective, which is to prevent the contagion and spread of a certain disease among the population. In turn, these are processes or actions that are used, above all, in the face of pandemics.
Pandemics are epidemic diseases that either affect almost all individuals in a certain locality, or spread across many countries extremely quickly. An example of a pandemic is found in the current situation that up to 171 countries are already experiencing, as a consequence of the rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
As a result of this fact, the three mechanisms or actions that we explain in this article have been applied in the majority of these countries. We have seen how the purpose of these three concepts is the same; However, these present differences. We will see the main ones below.
1. Nature of the term
The first of the differences between quarantine, social distancing and isolation has to do with the nature or origin of each term; that is, with the field from which they come (note that we are not talking about etymology).
In the case of quarantine, the term comes from medicine (in the sense that it is a medical term, widely used in this sector); As for social distancing, although it is also used in medicine, the concept would come from social psychology; Finally, isolation would also come from social psychology, although it is later used for medical situations such as pandemics.
2. Target population
Another difference between the three measures lies in the population to which each one is directed, since there are nuances in this regard.
The quarantine is aimed at the entire population (healthy, healthy who have been exposed to infected people, and sick), while Social distancing is aimed at healthy people who have not yet contracted the disease (people with the disease are directly isolated, although they could also be asked to social distance), and finally, isolation is applied to people who have already contracted the disease, to prevent them from spreading it to others.
Another difference between quarantine, social distancing and isolation is the degree of intensity of the action, or the extent to which it interferes with the person’s life
Thus, while isolation has a high intensity, in the sense that the person is directly isolated from their environment (they cannot see their friends, family and, ultimately, anyone), in quarantine the intensity could be said to be It is moderate, because the person can see other people and be in contact with them (even if they are confined at home, and must apply the recommended security measures).
Finally, social distancing would imply the lowest degree of intensity, since in this case people can see each other, but not get too close to each other.
4. Period of time or duration
Finally, the fourth of the differences between quarantine, social distancing and isolation has to do with the time period of each action. Quarantine is the only measure that has a stipulated and specific period of time ; The time is determined by the protocol of each disease or pandemic.
For its part, social distancing does not usually have a stipulated time, it simply lasts as long as the state of alert for that disease lasts. In the case of isolation, it ends when the person no longer shows symptoms and when it is proven that they are cured (although the safety measures in question must continue to be applied).
