Key considerations: quarantine in the context of COVID-19 (Social Science in Humanitarian Action)

This brief sets out practical considerations relating to the design and impact of measures that restrict human movement patterns in the context of COVID-19. These measures include: quarantine, in which individuals who have been exposed to a communicable disease are separated from others for the duration of the disease’s incubation period; isolation, in which individuals with a communicable disease are separated from others for as long as they are infectious; and social distancing, in which individuals or large groups of people are restricted from gathering.1 Measures may be mandatory (governmentally required and enforced) or voluntary.