Report: Earlier Social Distancing Could Have Save Thousands

A new Columbia University report says that tens of thousands of lives would have been saved if social-distancing measures would have been put in place more quickly in the United States.

If the measures were put in place one week earlier, it could have save 36,000 lives, and if social distancing had taken place at the start of March,that total would be as high as 54,000.

“These findings highlight the dramatic effect that early, coordinated interventions have on the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report says. “Efforts to further raise public awareness of the ongoing high transmissibility and explosive growth potential of COVID-19 are still needed at this critical time.”

Read the full report here.