# Any positive side effects from all of this isolation? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 2, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851 "2020-04-02T02:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/1 "2020-04-02T02:22:00Z")
Are there any statistics showing any positive effects as a result of all of the quarantining and social distancing? - Reduction in car accidents/fatalities - Reduction in spread of other communicable diseases (e.g., flu) What else? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/2 "2020-04-02T07:05:58Z")
[Air pollution.](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51944780) > [@](#): > > Researchers in New York told the BBC their early results showed carbon monoxide mainly from cars had been reduced by nearly 50% compared with last year. > > Emissions of the planet-heating gas CO2 have also fallen sharply. Temporary, of course, but positive. ---
**Author:** ![AdityanathYogi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@AdityanathYogi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdityanathYogi)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/3 "2020-04-02T07:39:02Z")
Air quality where I am (Delhi) has open dramatically improved… it’s an eye opener for everyone here ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/4 "2020-04-02T07:58:59Z")
[Hong Kong’s coronavirus response leads to sharp drop in flu cases - Winter influenza season ends more than a month earlier than usual](https://www.ft.com/content/ad7ae6b4-5eab-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4) ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/5 "2020-04-02T09:02:24Z")
LA Times: [Coronavirus stay-at-home orders have reduced traffic accidents by half](https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-04-01/coronavirus-stay-at-home-orders-have-reduced-traffic-accidents-by-half) ---
**Author:** ![cincinnatus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cincinnatus/32/7990_2.png) [@cincinnatus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cincinnatus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/6 "2020-04-02T10:56:05Z")
I’m looking forward to see what happens with car insurance rates. How do you think they will be affected? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/7 "2020-04-02T11:12:04Z")
I’m wondering if some employers will see that remote work is feasible and has financial advantages and will continue to allow it at least a few days a week. This could lead to reduced pollution, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/8 "2020-04-02T11:22:39Z")
> [@cincinnatus](#): > > I’m looking forward to see what happens with car insurance rates. > > How do you think they will be affected? Not at all, unless the reduction in traffic accidents becomes a long-term thing that allows insurance companies to adjust their actuarial models. If that were to happen, then an insurance company could conceivably gain a competitive advantage by lowering their premiums. But the drop in accidents will go away when business-as-usual resumes, so I wouldn’t expect any change. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/9 "2020-04-02T11:33:18Z")
People are cooking at home and eating together as families. Also working together as families, particularly home schooling work helping their kids. Home projects getting done. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/10 "2020-04-02T11:41:20Z")
I have no idea if true, but I would assume a huge reduction in STD cases. Hard to catch one of those at 6 feet. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/11 "2020-04-02T11:47:45Z")
In Minnesota, drunk driving arrests are down more than 60% from last year at the same time. Of course, liquor store purchases are significantly higher. ---
**Author:** ![Ulysses](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulysses/32/16083_2.png) [@Ulysses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulysses)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/12 "2020-04-02T12:10:12Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I’m wondering if some employers will see that remote work is feasible and has financial advantages and will continue to allow it at least a few days a week. This could lead to reduced pollution, etc. Was having a similar discussion with a colleague. This may in fact lead to a substantial change in perceptions about telework and school and result in a “tipping point” societal embrace of both. > [@AdityanathYogi](#): > > Air quality where I am (Delhi) has open dramatically improved… it’s an eye opener for everyone here Same here in Italy, especially the canals of Venice. > [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I have no idea if true, but I would assume a huge reduction in STD cases. Hard to catch one of those at 6 feet. With perhaps a corresponding increase in pregnancies among couples who live together? “Corona” may be the apropos baby name for 2021! However, I nominate “Quint” for baby name 2021. It’s a Latin nickname for “the fifth” and was the common given name of a Roman family’s fifth male child. It’s Italian derivative for “fifty” (“cinquanta”) comes after “quaranta” or “forty” which is the origin of “quarantine” (ships were required to wait forty days before docking in Venice during the plague). Hence, those little angels that we get after quarantine = Quint (or Quinta). ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/13 "2020-04-02T13:09:03Z")
We are catching up on our sleep. I haven’t been this well rested in my adult life. My attention span is improving. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/14 "2020-04-02T13:24:59Z")
You don’t need statistics to see that the traffic situation has markedly improved everywhere a lockdown is in effect. The streets are quieter (which makes sleeping with the window open more pleasant) and my daily bicycle commute to the office is now a breeze—no more sudden stops and starts and no more breathing in all those noxious car exhaust fumes. Sometimes I have an entire inner-city road to myself for several kilometres at a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/15 "2020-04-02T14:21:16Z")
The ‘Social Distancing’ is working out pretty good, since nobody is able to wipe their ass anymore. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/16 "2020-04-02T15:10:36Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I have no idea if true, but I would assume a huge reduction in STD cases. Hard to catch one of those at 6 feet. And yet there are those who cannot resist a challenge… > [@Gatopescado](#): > > The ‘Social Distancing’ is working out pretty good, since nobody is able to wipe their ass anymore. One word for you: bidet. [Amazon has bidet seats.](https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=bidet+seat&ref=nb_sb_noss_1) Gitchyseff one. And don’t look back. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/17 "2020-04-02T15:44:06Z")
Some crime rates are down considerably. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/18 "2020-04-02T16:34:31Z")
For me, personally, since I no longer have a ~40 minute commute to and from work I have so much more free time after work now. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/19 "2020-04-02T18:17:40Z")
[Animal adoptions](https://www.foxnews.com/us/colorado-shelter-every-animal-adopted-covid-19-outbreak) up: > [@](#): > > A Colorado animal shelter twice emptied out its cages this week, finding cats and dogs new homes as residents hunker down and practice social isolation amid the global coronavirus pandemic. People are realizing whose job is essential. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851/20 "2020-04-02T21:56:16Z")
Overseas call centers (and I suspect many here in the US) are on lockdown, drastically reducing the number of robocalls. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-positive-side-effects-from-all-of-this-isolation/850851.md?page=2)