Understanding Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation

As the COVID-19 pandemic grows, so does the usage of terms like social distancing, self-monitoring, self-quarantine, and self-isolation – whether in everyday conversations or news media. Though all of these measures are used to control the spread of COVID-19, they aren’t interchangeable.

To that end, UT Health Austin, University Health Services, and Dell Medical School at UT-Austin have created an infographic to help differentiate such methods. The illustration, released today, March 24, aims to educate both the media and public on the nuances between social distancing, self-monitoring, self-quarantine, and self-isolation and how long each period should last. In addition to defining the measures, the infographic demonstrates which populations – based on their symptoms and/or history of exposure – should follow specific measures, as well as how long they should adopt such methods. See the infographic below for more on which containment efforts we should be practicing in our part to help flatten the curve.