Places without social distancing have 35 times more potential coronavirus spread, study finds

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Parts of the U.S. that don't adhere to any physical distancing policies face 35 times more cases of the novel coronavirus, a new study claims.

The study, published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Health Affairs, examined policies mandating social distancing -- as states across the country begin the process of reopening -- and found that the longer a distancing protocol was in effect the slower the daily growth rate of COVID-19, the virus’s disease.

“Holding the amount of voluntary social distancing constant, these results imply 10 times greater spread by April 27 without [shelter-in-place orders] … and more than 35 times greater spread without any of the four measures,” the researchers wrote in their study, titled “Strong Social Distancing Measures in the United States Reduced the COVID-19 Growth Rate.”

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Relaxing social distancing rules would allow the coronavirus to spread at a much faster rate, a new study finds. (iStock)

A group of researchers examined confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States from March 1 through April 27, which was a total of about 1 million reported cases at that time.

When social distancing policies lasted at least 16 to 20 days, the daily rate of infection dropped by more than 9 percentage points, according to the study. However, even policies lasting 15 days and less also saw declines in the daily infection rate, researchers found.

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The social distancing measures, which at one time were mandated by almost the entire country, include shelter-in-place orders, bans on large events and the closure of schools, gyms, bars,  restaurants, salons and other businesses.

In certain states, there have been protests over the continued stay-at-home orders. However, polls still show broad support for social distancing as a way to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent more localized outbreaks in communities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released some new guidelines for restaurants and bars around how to reopen safely, and the federal agency will release more broad-based guidelines soon.

As of Friday afternoon, there were more than 1.4 million infections and 86,387 deaths from coronavirus in the United States.