BUSINESS: Research + Stats Why Canceling Events and Self-Quarantining Is So Important By Staff Thursday, March 12, 2020 2:13 PM According to a recent post by Vox, “Covid-19 has quickly made large-scale gatherings and conferences unpopular if not socially frowned upon. This change arrived quickly, and may seem jarring, but it’s easier to see the logic when you understand the theory behind this kind of ‘social distancing’ policy. The key is to ‘flatten the curve,’ slowing the rate of increase in infections so that you spread out the cases, even if the total number doesn’t change. A disastrous inundation of hospitals can likely be averted with protective measures we’re now seeing more of—closing schools, canceling mass gatherings, working from home, self-quarantine, self-isolation, avoiding crowds—to keep the virus from spreading fast. Flattening the curve slows the rate at which new cases arrive in hospitals, easing the burden on health care infrastructure and improving the odds that individual patients will survive." For more on this, read How Canceled Events and Self-Quarantines Save Lives, in One Chart.