Social distancing has emerged as a key measure to reduce the spread of COVID-19.1 Limitation of virus transmission is particularly important in healthcare settings where staff are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 compared with the general public.2 A systematic review3 suggested a halving in the risk of transmission for every additional metre over 1 m between an infected individual and a susceptible host. Currently, in the UK, 2 m social distancing is recommended wherever possible.1
Given that most interactions in the hospital workplace require individuals to determine 2 m without the help of visual cues, we aimed to investigate the ability of hospital staff to estimate a 2 m social distance; to determine whether the ability to judge a 2 m distance was related to age, gender, height or staff group; to explore the possibility that those likely to be familiar with the metric system (ie, younger participants or those who provided height in metres) might estimate a 2 m distance more accurately; and to establish whether provision of visual aids improved accuracy. …
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