 Social distancing is a tool public health officials can use to slow the spread of a disease that is being passed from person to person. The CDC describes social distancing as staying away from mass gatherings and keeping a distance of six feet or two meters from other people. At the moment this is one of the most important tools available to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Experts estimate that a vaccine is 12 to 18 months away. Some examples of social distancing are closing schools, closing theaters and working from home. But social distancing also means not touching other people and that includes handshakes. The goal is to keep the number of cases at any one time below the capacity of the healthcare system. This is what people mean when they say social distancing can flatten the curve. Why does social distancing work? If done correctly and on a large scale, social distancing breaks or slows the chain of transmission from person to person. This flattens the curve so that the medical care system is not overwhelmed. People can spread the coronavirus for at least five days before they show symptoms. It's very important to take the possibility of exposure seriously and quarantine yourself if you think you are exposed. Self quarantine should last 14 days. This covers the period of time during which a person could reasonably present with symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Frail older folks are most at risk and should be doing all they can to protect themselves. But younger healthier people can help here too by minimizing their own exposure to the coronavirus and thereby reducing the chance they spread it to someone older. There is also likely a subgroup of otherwise healthy younger people who, if they got the coronavirus, could get very sick. So right now, whoever you are, social distancing is critically important. It is one of the most important tool we have to fight this pandemic. Much of how it unfolds in the US will come down to the choices people make.