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A PSA done by the Ohio Department of Health used mousetraps and ping-pong balls to illustrate the importance of social distancing has gone viral.

Wochit

With states, public health officials and even President Donald Trump weighing in on when the United States should lift social distancing requirements amid the coronavirus pandemic, a study authored by Harvard University researchers paints a bleak picture. 

The study, published in the journal “Science,” suggests intermittent social distancing might be necessary until 2022 if no vaccine or pharmaceutical treatments for the novel coronavirus are found. 

“The total incidence of COVID-19 illness over the next five years will depend critically upon whether or not it enters into regular circulation after the initial pandemic wave, which in turn depends primarily upon the duration of immunity that SARS-CoV-2 infection imparts,” the study said.

The researchers studied other coronaviruses related to the novel one that causes COVID-19 to simulate a host of potential outcomes for the current pandemic. 

They argued implementing social distancing measures only once could result in a “prolonged single-peak epidemic” that strains the health care system.

“Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available,” researchers wrote. 

According to the study, transmission simulations found: 

  • “In all modeled scenarios, SARS-CoV-2 was capable of producing a substantial outbreak regardless of establishment time”
  • “Much like pandemic influenza, many scenarios lead to SARS-CoV-2 entering into long-term circulation alongside the other human betacoronaviruses”
  • “High seasonal variation in transmission leads to smaller peak incidence during the initial pandemic wave but larger recurrent wintertime outbreaks”
  • “Long-term immunity consistently led to effective elimination of SARS-CoV-2 and lower overall incidence of infection”
  • “Low levels of cross immunity from the other betacoronaviruses against SARS-CoV-2 could make SARS-CoV-2 appear to die out, only to resurge after a few years”

Researchers for the study noted distancing can have “profoundly negative economic, social, and educational consequences” — the economic consequences are th