Social distancing now enforced in many countries requires that there is a minimum distance between people in any public place.
1. Distancing and density
A consequence of social distancing, when enforced, is to put an upper bound on human density in any public space. If you stay at least "r", say 1.5 m - 2.0 m, apart from your neighbour, there is an exclusion circle of radius r around you which nobody can enter. This is a geometrical question known by chemists and physicists in crystallography: how can you pack atoms in space efficient ways? Here we have circles of radius r, and if the public space is a square of edge N*r, you cannot pack more than NxN circles in that space. Hence on a surface of S=(N*r)**2 you cannot have more than N**2 persons. That means a maximum density of 1/(r**2) people per square meter if the radius r is enforced for social distancing.
2. Lower density, hence less privacy, in public space
This means that individual people cannot "hide in the crowd", and everyone becomes more visible to external observers, or to the fewer individuals present locally. That would be a first consideration for the impact on privacy
3. Home lock-down and privacy?
If people stay at home, with few exceptions known to us, then knowing one's address is knowing where one is, with probability close to one.
Then the address becomes the key privacy parameter. If someone does not want others to know where they are, they need their address not to be shared or leaked.
Do you agree with the above?
What is your view on how the privacy question is changed by social distancing, and home lock-down?
Are there additional aspects?
The communication strategy is explained here
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/05/e52dccb89f53-stay-1-beatles-apart-japan-design-firms-take-on-social-distancing.html
Erratum: circles of diameter r... They fit in a square of edge r... The radius rho is half, and this is the social distance parameter between people (typically set at 1.5m to 2m, on French trains it is currently 1m)
We can use an iot devices to change data like temperarure and position between two people in same zone
Yes, in such circumstances, people should be spaced at least two meters apart to resist the currently spreading virus
1. No, for larger values of N you can get a slightly better packing than that. For example, on a square of 8r*8r, you can have 68 and not just 64 circles of diameter r, i.e. people (see http://hydra.nat.uni-magdeburg.de/packing/csq/csq.html).
2. Although mathematically correct, people are not regularly packed that closely that we get to those mathematical limits even without social distancing. So the maximum privacy we can achieve by hiding in the crowd is lower, but I doubt that there is much effect on the average privacy.
3. Yes, that is true, but even without social distancing, it was true at least at night most of the time. Of course, it depends on the attack scenario under consideration, but in general I would claim that this effect exists but it is rather small.
@ Ralf Kneuper, many thanks for sharing a carefully considered crystallography approach.
I would like to share an analytical agent based model (ABM) for virus transmission in a closed community, based on close vicinity criteria (called "neighbour" transmission). See here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340979635_Covid19-transmission-model-Elderly_Care_Home-etc-2020-04-28
Any interest, feedback?
Japan is communicating efficiently and beautifully on social distancing:
- one tuna fish apart (2m)
-one Beatle's space , referring to the cover of a famous album
https://nosigner.com/pandaid
The communication strategy is explained here
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/05/e52dccb89f53-stay-1-beatles-apart-japan-design-firms-take-on-social-distancing.html
Dear Dr. Renaud Di Francesco
Very good discussion.
Best regards
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-do-experts-actually-measure-the-impact-of-social-distancing-2020-04-16
https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2020/april/impact-social-distancing-ripples-economy
Article How does social distance impact customers’ complaint intenti...
https://www.pressherald.com/2020/03/22/commentary-the-social-side-effects-of-social-distancing/
https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/how-social-distancing-can-impact-your-mental-health
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-social-distancing-psychological-fallout
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/we-are-social-species-how-will-social-distancing-affect-us
https://news.csu.edu.au/opinion/the-impact-of-social-distancing-on-older-adults-during-covid-19
Yes, it makes sense. Social distance decreases intimacy, making people more visible. We make the addresses known and also a lower density leads to less privacy in the public space
I agree but affected privacy is better than COVID-19 spread and possible mortality !!
Cities become villages as less people are on the street and more stay in their homes most of the time. In villages, everyone is visible, there is no crowding effect, no hiding among many. With public transport not safe anymore, people walk or cycle instead. Therefore, average distances travelled become smaller, people stay local. They may be more known locally, than far away.
De facto, privacy protection decreases for those on the street. However, most people staying at home, for most of the time, the private time increases.
https://www.eset.com/blog/consumer/the-digital-quest-for-normalcy-how-social-distancing-is-shaking-up-privacy-security-and-opportunit/
It's for short time for the sake of one's life. Life is more important than privacy here.
To prevent the viruses doos reach the other persons
it is only approximately distant is about 1.5-2 meters but May be may increasing or decreasing according to the Environment
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