Academic Assistantship- Task 4

Social Distancing and COVID-19

Yash Paliwal

BBA 2017- Section B

20172006

Social distancing has become very important since this pandemic has started because it is a
simple way to reduce risk significantly of transmitting the virus. By increasing the distance
between people, we can minimize the risk of contracting the virus. Governments around the
globe have mandated that social distancing norms be adhered to and followed. Social
distancing has proven to be an effective non-medical method to combat the spread of this
virus.

Introduction

Many states have made various social distancing measures during the current COVID-19
pandemic such as travel restrictions, border checks, public closure, and they have mandated
their citizens to maintain a distance of 1.5-2 meters from each other when going outside.
However, such assertive and large-scale measures are not easy to execute, for example, not
all public spaces can be closed and people still have to go out for food, healthcare, and
essential jobs. Technologies play a key role in that regard to facilitate social distance
measures.

Social Distancing

Practical Scenarios

 Keeping distance- technology can assist in keeping distance between people. For
example, if a person is getting too close to someone else or a crowd, he can be alerted
through a smartphone notification.
 Real-time monitoring- many AI technologies can be used to monitor public places in
real time.
 Information system- Technology such as Bluetooth and GPS can be used to collect
information.
Wireless Technologies for Social Distancing

Wi-Fi

Since the Wi-Fi system is widely used that technology can be considered in indoor areas to
be an effective approach to social distancing indoors, in large buildings, airports, alleys,
garages, and Underground places where GPS and other satellite technologies are inaccessible
or lack precision.

Some features of Wi-Fi are as follows: -

 Crowd detection
 Public place monitoring
 Access scheduling

Cellular

Over the past few decades cellular networks have seen massive growth in the way of digital
communication. Cellular can be used for real time monitoring, density of people in one place,
encourage people to maintain social distancing norms and stay at home through text
messages and also track the movement of people who have been infected.

Bluetooth

Some ways that Bluetooth can help is in the following ways: -

 Contract tracing- The main concept is to use Bluetooth to locate other users in close
proximity. When it is in the case of an infection, authorities can ask people to share
records as part of a survey on contact tracing. Hence, authorities can identify
individuals who may have direct contact with people who may be infected and
immediately inform them to avoid the infected person.
 Crowd detection
 Distance between two people

Some other technologies that can be used to maintain social distancing norms are as follows:
-
 1. Ultra-wideband
2. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
3. Zigbee
4. RFID

Other Emerging Technologies for Social Distancing

Artificial Intelligence

AI can be used in the following ways: -

1. Distance to/from crowds and contact tracing

2. Infected movement prediction
3. Quarantines/at-risk people location prediction
4. People/traffic density prediction
5. Sickness trend prediction

Computer Vision

Computer vision can be used in the following ways: -

1. Public place monitoring

2. Detecting and monitoring quarantined people
3. Symptoms detection and monitoring
4. Infected movement data
5. Keeping distance

Ultrasound

Ultrasound can be used in the following ways: -

1. Keeping distance
2. Real-time monitoring
3. Automation

Inertial Sensors

Inertial sensors can be used in the following ways: -

1. Keeping distance
2. Automation
Thermal

Thermal can be used in the following ways: -

1. Keeping distance
2. Real-time monitoring
3. Susceptible group detection
4. Contact tracing

Visible Light

Visible light can be used in the following ways: -

1. Real-time monitoring
2. Automation
3. Traffic control

Open Issues and Future Research Directions

1. Real-Time Scheduling and Optimization

In terms of social distancing, scheduling in real time and balancing strategies may
play a key role in avoiding too many customers at the same location (such as malls,
hospitals) while retaining an acceptable standard of quality of service. In particular,
scheduling techniques can be applied to reduce the number of staff members at the
workplace and the number of patients coming to the hospital, thus decreasing the
unnecessary contacts between people. In addition, traffic management can help
minimize the peak number of cars and pedestrians, and optimizing strategies can help
tackle the extra burden placed online services as more people stay at home
2. Security and Privacy-Preserving in Social Distancing
Most of the above social distance scenarios call for personal data for individuals, to a
particular degree, from their face / presence to their body location, travel records
and/or health / data. Those estimates, unless properly secured, will attract cyber
attackers and Turn users into financial, criminal fraud victims. Information from
consumers such as health issues may also have a negative impact on the employment
opportunity or insurance coverage for individuals.
3. Incentive Mechanism to Encourage Social Distancing
Due to the selfish nature of people in their daily lives, incentive mechanisms can be
quite beneficial in motivating people to accept or share important data to make new
 methods of social distancing. Those processes have been explored extensively as
applied in crowd sourcing.

4. Pandemic Mode for Social Distancing Implementation

An occasional pandemic outbreak may occur during a given period can drive
telecommunication companies to build a pandemic mode application for the smart
phones of current users. This application represents a detailed system taking
advantage of the present pandemic situation, i.e. contaminated movement data, to help
mobile users stay informed of the infectious virus and carry out careful measures to
slow down disease spread by social distancing implementation. To this end, the use of
smartphones by users is very necessary in order to realize this pandemic mode
application as similarly implemented for disaster-based smartphone applications in.

Conclusion

This report covered multiple aspects on how different types of technology could be used to
help in assisting in maintaining social distancing norms. Technology can encourage and
coerce people to ensure that they are following orders that have been mandated by the
government. They also discuss some problems in social distancing and how they can be
potentially rectified and addressed.

(Nguyen et al., 2020) (Brzezinski, Kecht, Dijcke & Wright, 2020)

References

1. Brzezinski, A., Kecht, V., Dijcke, D., & Wright, A. (2020). Belief in Science
Influences Physical Distancing in Response to COVID-19 Lockdown Policies.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Van_Dijcke/publication/341001499_Beli
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19_Lockdown_Policies/links/5ea96a1e92851cb267633a3d/Belief-in-Science-
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2. Nguyen, C., Saputra, Y., Huynh, N., Khoa, T., Tuan, B., & Hoang, D. et al. (2020).
Enabling and Emerging Technologies for Social Distancing: A Comprehensive
Survey. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.02816.pdf