Our New Research: Social Distancing at Health Care Centers Early in the Pandemic Helps to Protect Population from COVID-19

Juan A. Ortega-Garcia, Manuel Ruiz-Marin, Alberto Carceles-Alvarez, Ferran Campillo i Lopez, Luz Claudio. Environmental Research 189 (2020) 109957.
At one point during the global novel coronavirus pandemic, Spain was the epicenter of infection.  Yet, not all regions of the country had the same rates of hospital emergency visits during this time.  The region of Murcia flattened the curve quickly while other regions of the country had overwhelmed hospital capacity. This was attributed to a robust, community-based, social media campaign promoting tele-medicine and social distancing within health care centers. 
In this rapid communication, we describe the actions taken in Murcia that may have contributed to a more favorable outcome as compared to other regions.  One important action was the coalition of activists, community leaders, physicians and researchers working as amplifiers of an educational campaign using a variety of social media and outreach strategies. 

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