Los Angeles, March 31 (AFP/APP): Self-isolation and social distancing appear to have slowed the rate at which coronavirus spread from person-to-person over three weeks in the Seattle area, a new statistical study has found. The Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) looked at government-compiled health data in the coronavirus hotspot of Washington state, as well as anonymized Facebook location data, to calculate the impact of the lockdown. The northwestern state, where the first US case was confirmed, began to ban large gatherings and shutter schools in early March. Public health data, including positive and negative tests and overall mortality, appear to show that “the epidemic has slowed” since then, the study found. The disease’s reproductive number — the number of people a single patient will infect on average — dropped by nearly half, from 2.7 at the end of February to 1.4 by March 18, it calculated. “The main takeaway here is though we’ve made some great headway, our progress is precarious and insufficient,” said Daniel Klein, one of the leaders of the study, on Monday. The reproductive number must fall below one for the pandemic to decline, the authors noted. Facebook location data indicated “a persistent decline in mobility” and … Continue reading Social distancing appears to slow virus spread in Seattle: report