Although the term "social distancing" was not introduced until the 21st century,
[14] social-distancing measures date back to at least the 5th century BC. The
Bible contains one of the earliest known references to the practice in the
Book of Leviticus 13:46: "And the leper in whom the plague is... he shall dwell alone; [outside] the camp shall his habitation be."
[15] During the
Plague of Justinian of 541 to 542, Emperor
Justinian enforced an ineffective quarantine on the
Byzantine Empire, including dumping bodies into the sea; he predominantly blamed the widespread outbreak on "
Jews,
Samaritans,
pagans,
heretics,
Arians,
Montanists and
homosexuals".
[16] In modern times, social distancing measures have been successfully implemented in several epidemics. In
St. Louis, shortly after the first cases of
influenza were detected in the city during the
1918 flu pandemic, authorities implemented school closures, bans on public gatherings and other social-distancing interventions. The influenza fatality rates in St. Louis were much less than in
Philadelphia, which had fewer cases of influenza but allowed a mass parade to continue and did not introduce social distancing until more than two weeks after its first cases.
[17]
The
World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested using the term "physical distancing" instead of "social distancing" because it is physical separation which prevents transmission; people can remain socially connected by meeting outdoors at a safe distance (when there is no
stay-at-home order) and by meeting via technology.
[2][3][18][19]
Cordon sanitaire
Main article:
Cordon sanitaire (medicine)
In 1995, a
cordon sanitaire was used to control an outbreak of
Ebola virus disease in
Kikwit,
Zaire.
[68][69][70] President
Mobutu Sese Seko surrounded the town with troops and suspended all flights into the community. Inside Kikwit, the
World Health Organization and Zaire's medical teams erected further
cordons sanitaires, isolating burial and treatment zones from the general population and successfully containing the infection.
[71]
Protective sequestration
Main article:
Protective sequestration
During the
1918 influenza epidemic, the town of
Gunnison, Colorado, isolated itself for two months to prevent an introduction of the infection. Highways were barricaded and arriving train passengers were quarantined for five days. As a result of the isolation, no one died of influenza in Gunnison during the epidemic.
[72] Several other communities adopted similar measures.
[73]
History
Leper colonies and
lazarettos were established as a means of preventing the spread of
leprosy and other contagious diseases through social distancing,
[76] until transmission was understood and effective treatments invented.
The term
lockdown was used by the media and the
World Health Organization (WHO) to describe the action taken in January 2020 by the
government of China to restrict movements of people in order to control the outbreak of
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in
Wuhan.
[7][8] When Italian authorities imposed
a strict quarantine order in the northern part of the country, the media also used the term lockdown, which was used for
Spain and
France, as well as other countries around the world.
[9][10][11][12] Although it is not a technical term in
public health or laws, the media continued to use
lockdown to describe the actions taken by these governments.
[13] As the lockdowns were expanded to other countries, there was a shift in the definitions. Measures are less restrictive and other terms emerged in attempts to differentiate from the most restrictive measure in China.
[5]
Australia
In Melbourne and Sydney, the term
iso, shortened from
self-isolation, is often colloquially used by young people to refer to stay-at-home orders.[
citation needed]