Since the outbreak of COVID-19, everything has been surreal; drastic changes have occurred, critical choices have been taken, and many misinterpreted ideas have dominated the scene: social distance, quarantine, and isolation. Although these ideas are not fresh and have been applied in many past circumstances, several people have been misled by overreacting and panic generated by false news and exaggerating effects. So, let us take a look at each concept's meaning and the case in which it should be applied.
Social distancing
Social distancing is typically a term applied to such acts to discourage or slow down the transmission of a highly infectious disease. The initiatives include banning large people's meetings, closing public venues, and canceling events; the goal is to restrict when and where individuals may meet.
Social dissociation involves maintaining a healthy distance from others. It means maintaining a distance of approximately one meter from others on a personal level and avoiding physical interaction with individuals. It means avoiding meeting areas at the neighborhood level, such as schools, offices, concert halls, and public transportation. Everybody can carry out this.
'Staying home' involves social distancing; this measure emphasizes avoiding face-to-face interaction, particularly in confined spaces. It means not leaving the house except for essentials; picking up food or medications, limiting such trips to the very minimum, and if you are their caregiver, you can see others, but you need to be vigilant with sanitary steps. People with important jobs must go to work, but must be vigilant with precautionary steps, such as public safety, medical, sanitation, or grocery staff, etc. Staying at home could be done either willingly, or mandatory, to prevent the virus from spreading.
Quarantine
This means, for a 14-day duration, staying home and away from other persons, even those in your family, as much as possible. Two forms of quarantine exist:
Self-quarantine, which requires separating and minimizing the movement of someone who has no symptoms, but who has been in close contact with someone who has recently fallen ill. All the rules of social distancing should be observed by an individual in self-quarantine, except that they should stop going to stores or communicating completely with the public.
Official or obligatory quarantine, which implies a lockout on a population enforced by the government, under which movements are severely limited. People can always go out for the basics, but they can only do so in tightly regulated circumstances or under a clear timetable imposed by officials of public safety.
Self-Isolation
It includes separating a person who has contracted COVID-19 or has different symptoms, including: fever, coughing, and/or shortness of breath, but test results have not yet been checked or obtained to prevent them from spreading the disease to others. A individual in isolation should be confined to a separate space and, if necessary, use a separate bathroom; strict sanitary measures must be enforced and self-quarantine should be followed by everyone else in the household.
How to cope
Mental health can take a toll on spending days or weeks at home with minimal resources and social contact; psychologists recommend several ways to cope with these psychological risks:
Limit the intake of news to reputable outlets such as the WHO website, as too much exposure to the virus' media coverage can lead to increased fear and anxiety sensations.
Establish and observe a regular routine that, amid the unfamiliarity of isolation and quarantine, will help you maintain a sense of order and purpose in your life.
Keep your lifestyle safe by having enough sleep, eating right, and exercising at home. By reading, listening to music, or learning something different, try unwinding.
Finally, catastrophizing brings nothing but more frustration to you; instead, strive to reflect on what you can do and consider the things that you can't improve.