Potential Role of Social Distancing in Mitigating Spread of Coronavirus Disease, South Korea

Abstract

In South Korea, the coronavirus disease outbreak peaked at the end of February and subsided in mid-March. We analyzed the likely roles of social distancing in reducing transmission. Our analysis indicated that although transmission might persist in some regions, epidemics can be suppressed with less extreme measures than those taken by China.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus disease; SARS-CoV-2; South Korea; pneumonia; respiratory diseases; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; social distancing; viruses; zoonoses.