Advert explains perfectly how social distancing will keep everyone safe

As lockdown measures went into effect around the world, governments stressed the importance of social distancing.

It means avoiding non-essential travel, staying at least six feet away from strangers and avoiding gatherings of people that aren’t in your household. But as lockdown measures are continuing with little sign of relaxing, people are starting to wonder whether it’s effective.

It’s tricky to explain why social distancing is important without some visual aides. This video from the Ohio Department of Health demonstrates why social distancing is important – and how it can work to reduce the transmission of infections.

In the video, rows of ping pong balls are balanced on traps. When one ping pong ball hits another, all of the rows are disrupted. But when the traps have a sufficient amount of distance between them, the ping pong ball doesn’t affect any of the others – it just bounces away.

In the replies, another Twitter user pointed out that the response from the state of Ohio’s government has been ahead of others and that it’s a model to follow. Another said that their own governor had suggested a day of prayer, instead of implementing social distancing measures.

On Twitter, one of the designers behind the advert explained that the perfect throw happened in one take, and that they had to superglue the other traps down.

Another Twitter user pointed out that the concept for the video, a mousetrap chain reaction, was similar to one from a Walt Disney animation from the 1950s, which was an explainer on how atoms and the rest of the physical world work.

Other people on social media also suggested other videos and advertisements which had demonstrated the importance of social distancing, such as a video based on burning matches.

Social distancing has been found to be the most effective way to combat the coronavirus while scientists work to develop a vaccine.