Coronavirus Crackdowns: The Difference Between Being In ‘Quarantine,’ ‘Isolation,’ And ‘Shelter In Place’

Topline: As more governments enforce crackdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, authorities will use different phrases to describe what is happening and what will happen next— here’s your cheat sheet for understanding the language of coronavirus.

• According to the Centers for Disease Control, the term isolation is used to refer to separating people sick with a contagious disease from people who are not sick to prevent the disease from spreading.
• When someone is quarantined it is because they were exposed to someone with a contagious disease; under a quarantine, that person would be separated from others and refrain from travel until it’s clear whether they caught the disease or not. 
• For example, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is quarantined after his wife, Sophie, tested positive for coronavirus after a trip to the U.K., while actor Tom Hanks and his actress wife Rita Wilson were isolated in a hospital after both becoming infected in Australia.
• An incubation period is the time between when someone is infected and when the first symptoms of the disease begin to appear— ideally, that means quarantines would last slightly longer than the incubation period; for coronavirus, the incubation period is believed by the World Health Organization to be up to 14 days.
• On Monday, California officials announced a shelter in place order to go into effect in the Bay Area until at least April 7— as reported by The New York Times, a shelter in place means residents must stay home unless their job falls under an essential category, like in government or in healthcare, have food delivered or by takeout in lieu of eating at restaurants and only going outside if they can stay six feet away from others. 
• Under the Bay Area shelter in place, people are free to leave their home to go to grocery stores, which will remain open, as well as pharmacies and doctors appointments, while gyms, bars and movie theaters are to be closed. 
• Media outlets are using the terms like lockdown and shutdown as they describe restrictions put in place in different regions or countries— these words are informal and aren’t defined by health organizations, but have been used to signify closures of businesses and inessential activities, such as shelter in place restrictions placed on the Bay Area or the strict crackdowns on movement issued in China and Italy.

Key background: Concern surrounding coronavirus in the U.S. really began when health departments found evidence of community spread, or when people who are tested positive for the disease had no known connection to another infection person. It was a tell-tale sign that the virus was no longer contained, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Tangent: You’ve probably heard a lot about flattening the curve, or slowing down the spread of disease by reducing the number of sick people at one time. The phrase refers to a graph showing the number of new infections over time. If coronavirus spreads swiftly, the hump shape in the graph will be very steep; If the spread decelerates, the hump in the graph will likewise be shorter.

One way to flatten the curve is by social distancing, or by keeping away from crowded spaces and avoiding contact with others to prevent the disease from spreading. That means staying home from events and working from home if possible.

What to watch for: The next U.S. city to announce a shelter in place. It may be New York— on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that with the city’s 800+ coronavirus cases and seven deaths within the five boroughs, he will decide within the next two days whether to issue a shelter in place order. De Blasio did not provide details on if a shelter in place order in New York would resemble the one in the Bay Area.