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
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
An interim review of the epidemiological characteristics of 2019 novel coronavirus
OBJECTIVES: The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from Wuhan, China is currently recognized as a public health emergency of global concern.METHODS: We reviewed the currently av...
Temporal dynamics in viral shedding and transmissibility of COVID-19
We report temporal patterns of viral shedding in 94 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and modeled COVID-19 infectiousness profiles from a separate sample of 77 infecto...
World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
An unprecedented outbreak of pneumonia of unknown aetiology in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China emerged in December 2019. A novel coronavirus was identified as the causative ...
Publication Info
- Year
- 2020
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 2
- Citations
- 2800
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
2800
OpenAlex
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