Social distancing measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic

[6][7] During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and related measures were recommended by several governments as alternatives to an enforced quarantine of heavily affected areas.

According to UNESCO monitoring, more than a hundred countries implemented nationwide school closures in response to COVID-19, impacting over half the world's student population.

[9] With many people at the time disbelieving that COVID-19 is any worse than the seasonal flu,[10] it was difficult to convince the public to voluntarily adopt social distancing practices.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania were the first states to adopt coordinated social distancing policies which closed down non-essential businesses and restricted large gatherings.

[17] In early March 2020, the sentiment "Stay The Fuck Home" was coined by Florian Reifschneider, a German engineer and was quickly echoed by notable celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande[18][19] and Busy Philipps[20] in hopes of reducing and delaying the peak of the outbreak.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram also joined the campaign with similar hashtags, stickers and filters under #staythefhome, #stayhome, #staythefuckhome and began trending across social media.

[25][26] On 12 March, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced from Washington measures intended to stop COVID-19 spreading, including the closure of all schools, universities and childcare facilities from the following day, as well as the closure of all cultural institutions and the cancellation of "all indoor mass gatherings of more than 100 people and outdoor mass gatherings of more than 500 people".