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What Social Distancing Looks Like in Public Spaces

Those who must still take public transit wonder if avoiding surfaces will help them stay healthy.

What Social Distancing Looks Like in Public Spaces
Reducing pole contact in New York City’s subways. Photographer: Gus Powell For Bloomberg Businessweek.

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- People are changing their behavior fast to contend with the new coronavirus threat. Those who must still take transit, for example, wonder if avoiding surfaces on trains and buses will help them stay healthy.

What Social Distancing Looks Like in Public Spaces

A survey of about 11,000 people in 11 countries conducted in early February by Britain’s Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, which makes cleaning products under its Lysol brand, found that 44% are avoiding crowds and 29% are staying off public transit. Campaigns from public-health agencies seem to be resonating: 54% said they’re washing their hands more often, and 32% are trying not to touch their eyes, nose, and mouth. Whether any of the lessons on cleanliness will lead to lasting behavioral changes is perhaps a question for later.

What Social Distancing Looks Like in Public Spaces

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net

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