Because of the coronavirus pandemic, most of us are practicing social-distancing and self-isolation so we can slow down and eventually stop the virus from spreading any further.
If you’re wondering why we need to practice those things, a professor decided to explain everything.
Hugh Montgomery, a professor, says one person that is practicing social-distancing can prevent 59,000 infections.
The professor said that on average, a person with the flu would pass the virus to 1.3 or 1.4 people.
If the people that you passed the virus to pass it on to another 1.4 people, by that time, it would have already happened 10 times.
One single person can be responsible for 14 cases of the flu, however, the coronavirus is not like the flu, and is more dangerous.
With the coronavirus, an average person can pass the virus to 3 people.
The professor said, “Now that doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but if each of those three passes it to three, and that happens at 10 layers, I have been responsible for infecting 59,000 people.”
Therefore, a person that is practicing social-distancing and self-isolation has the ability to stop the virus from getting to 59,000 people.
This can be done by just staying away from social gatherings.
Explaining why social distancing is important, the professor said, “This is the issue. If we’ve got a limited resource, which we have – a limited number of ventilators, a limited number of doctors, a limited number of nurses – if we overwhelm that, we can’t provide that service of caring for these people properly.”
He added, “I’m not going to play it down. It’s going to be ugly, it’s going to be horrible for a large number of people, but it will be a small number of people who get properly sick and a smaller percentage of those again that need to come to an intensive care unit. And we can save the lives of a large number of those people too.”
To be able to do that, the professor said that we need to make sure that we have enough beds, staff, and kits for people that fall ill from the virus.
Summing up his explanation, Professor Montgomery said, “If you are irresponsible enough to think that you don’t mind if you get the flu, remember it’s not about you. It’s about everybody else.”
That’s why folks, it is important for us to stay away and practice social-distancing and self-isolation.