Abstract
Public health measures were decisive in controlling the SARS epidemic in 2003. Isolation is the separation of ill persons from non-infected persons. Quarantine is movement restriction, often with fever surveillance, of contacts when it is not evident whether they have been infected but are not yet symptomatic or have not been infected. Community containment includes measures that range from increasing social distancing to community-wide quarantine. Whether these measures will be sufficient to control 2019-nCoV depends on addressing some unanswered questions.
Keywords
QuarantineSocial distanceMedicineIsolation (microbiology)OutbreakCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Public healthSocial isolationSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)2019-20 coronavirus outbreakCoronavirusEnvironmental healthDistancingPandemicVirologyDiseaseInfectious disease (medical specialty)NursingPsychiatry
MeSH Terms
BetacoronavirusCOVID-19ChinaCoronavirus InfectionsDisease TransmissionInfectiousHumansPandemicsPatient IsolationPneumoniaViralPublic HealthQuarantineSARS-CoV-2Vulnerable Populations
Affiliated Institutions
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Publication Info
- Year
- 2020
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 2
- Citations
- 2800
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Annelies Wilder‐Smith,
David O. Freedman
(2020).
Isolation, quarantine, social distancing and community containment: pivotal role for old-style public health measures in the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.
Journal of Travel Medicine
, 27
(2)
.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa020
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1093/jtm/taaa020
- PMID
- 32052841
- PMCID
- PMC7107565