1/n India needs to get back to work sooner rather than later. This thread discusses how

2/n Social distancing, Testing + Isolation is the only accepted strategy to contain Covid-19. While we can easily continue Testing + Isolation, we need to continue to implement social distancing while getting back to work

3/n If we were to believe this widely quoted statistic, a 50% reduction in contact reduces the spread by 96% over a month, and a 75% reduction in contact reduces the spread by 99.5%

4/n The less-denser rural India might find it much easier to reduce social contact. But can we implement social distancing in urban India (60%+ of GDP and 35%+ of population) and yet get back to work?

5/n One encounters majority of contact in Urban India while traveling, at work and at the market. Spread these activities over the entire week (no concept of universal holidays on Sat/Sun) and over the entire 24-hour day (no concept of 9 am-7 pm working hours)

6/n Companies/offices ensure that not more than 50% of workforce is present in office any given time. Can achieve this by working in two shifts (6 am–1 pm, 2 pm–9 pm) thereby reducing both transit traffic and office contact by 50%+. This also reduces travel time for most

7/n Public transport should operate in full swing throughout the 18 hours for this to be effective. Perhaps offices with less than 10 employees can operate in one shift only

8/n Offices open 4 days a week. People work from home for another 1 or 2 days. Offices have different holidays during the week (instead of universal holidays on Sat/Sun) so that the transit contact is not concentrated on the 5 weekdays. This reduces contact by another 40%

9/n Even government offices follow both these protocols. Most factories operate during the night in two shifts. Similarly, most construction work happens during the night. APMCs operate during the night only. OPDs in hospital operate 24x7 to spread traffic in the hospitals

10/n Restaurant, retail stores, malls can be open all days as the footfalls are anyway distributed throughout the week now and not just weekends. For inter-city traveling, require alternate sitting in trains, planes and buses

11/n All employers (registered and unregistered) must ensure that all employees wear masks (assuming we have abundant availability of masks by then)

12/n Schools, colleges, parks, weddings, religious places and all other places of public gathering continue to remain closed over the next month or two

13/n This is not comprehensive. Also, there may be more practical ways to implement some of these. But the gist is the same – spread activities throughout the 24-hour day and the entire 7-day week and reduce contact by as much as 70-75%

14/n Also, enforceability might be an issue, but I am sure that the government can make laws that make it mandatory for corporations / citizens to follow these. These measures sound draconian, but we are a country that does not have the luxury of an extended lockdown

15/n Hopefully, this needs to be done only for a month or two before we can meaningfully flatten the curve. This is a small inconvenience for saving our economy and millions of jobs [End]